Enthusiastic Teachers Research Articles

Tribute to Kenneth Sauer (1931–2022): a mentor, a role-model, and an inspiration to all in the field of photosynthesis

AbstractKenneth (Ken) Sauer was a mainstay of research in photosynthesis at the University of California, Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) for more than 50 years. Ken will be remembered by his colleagues, and other workers in the field of photosynthesis as well, for his pioneering work that introduced the physical techniques whose application have enriched our understanding of the basic reactions of oxygenic photosynthesis. His laboratory was a training ground for many students and postdocs who went on to success in the field of photosynthesis and many others. Trained as a physical chemist, he always brought that quantitative approach to research questions and used several spectroscopic methods in his research. His broad scientific interests concerned the role of manganese in oxygen evolution, electronic properties of chlorophylls, energy transport in antenna complexes, and electron transport reactions. He was also an enthusiastic teacher, an enormously successful mentor who leaves behind a legion of scientists as his abiding legacy, a lover of music and the outdoors with many interests beyond science, and a dedicated family man with a great sense of humility. In this tribute, we summarize some aspects of Ken Sauer’s life and career, illustrated with selected research achievements, and describe his approach to research and life as we perceived it, which is complemented by reminiscences of several current researchers in photosynthesis and other fields. The supporting material includes Ken Sauers’s CV and publication list, as well as a list of the graduate students and postdocs he trained and of researchers that spent a sabbatical in his lab.

“Poetry is on its way back up”: a spoken word performer’s contribution to young people’s engagement with poetry

ABSTRACT The presence of spoken word poets at school can prove to be engaging for young people, especially if used to complement the work conducted by enthusiastic teachers of poetry. By means of an evaluation of a spoken word residency at an Australian high school, this article discusses some of the opportunities and challenges associated with the attempt to engage young people with the genre. The case study’s research data was collected by means of observation of the residency and semi-structured interviews with the poet leading it and the teacher who organized it. In the article it is argued that while students are encouraged to develop their conceptions of poetry and perceive it as engaging, it is important to democratize participation in spoken word activities and enhance teachers’ own engagement.

Jeremy David Pickett-Heaps. 5 June 1940—11 April 2021

Jeremy Pickett-Heaps was a biologist whose acute observational powers were fed by a deep fascination for how cells work; he had an affinity for the myriad diversity of algae and other protists in general, and for what they could teach us about all cells. An early adopter of the electron microscope, he made fundamental discoveries in plant cell division and green algal phylogeny that developed into studies on cell division in general: first with the highly ordered diatoms and other protists, and later with animal cells. In the latter part of his career, Jeremy mastered time-lapse microcinematography to document the dynamic lives of cells and, through the resultant movies and his enthusiastic teaching, introduced many to the wonders of microscopic life.

The flip side of teacher enthusiasm?

AbstractResearch suggests that enthusiastic teachers show good teaching. At the same time, based on flow theory, it can be hypothesized that high enthusiasm is associated with a limited ability to perceive others’ needs. Hence, this study examines the relation between teaching enthusiasm and socio-emotional support. Based on questionnaire data from 89 mathematics teachers (61.8% women) and their 1716 students (50.0% girls), manifest multilevel analyses show that higher student-perceived teaching enthusiasm was associated with higher perceived socio-emotional support. In addition, the difference between student- and teacher-perceived support was lower for high student-perceived teaching enthusiasm. However, teacher-reported teaching enthusiasm was neither related to student-perceived socio-emotional support nor to the difference between teacher and student perceptions of teacher support. The study indicates that a multi-perspective assessment of motivation and teaching behavior may contribute to a better understanding of their correlates.

Interdisciplinary Teaching Scenarios on Sustainable Development in Croatia

This paper reflects on the project for the creation of teaching scenarios for the curricular Interdisciplinary Topic of Sustainable Development, which addressed a wide variety of subjects in Croatian primary and secondary schools. The paper intends to provide insight into potentially replicable approaches for the creation of teaching resources in similar contexts. The paper aims to identify (1) the project’s approaches that stimulated interdisciplinary collaboration during the creation of the teaching scenarios, and (2) the project’s approaches that could facilitate the adoption of the teaching scenarios by a wide variety of subject teachers. The approaches are explored through observation and reflection by the author, who was the key expert and development leader for the teaching scenarios. The interdisciplinary creation is found to be stimulated by creating conditions for authors to explore sustainable development with an awareness of their subject’s important role in it while paying attention to team relationships, processes, and results, including in online collaboration spaces. The teaching scenarios are found to be more likely to support a multidisciplinary type of implementation than an interdisciplinary one due to teaching activities mostly being not integrated enough to enable team teaching. This, however, allows more enthusiastic individual teachers to use the activities autonomously. The scenario adoption may be supported by the efficient simultaneous addressing of subject outcomes and sustainable development outcomes, by the adaptability of teaching activities, and by the connection between scenario topics and real life, including the life of the school community and wider communities.

The Influence of Teacher’s Infrastructure and Teacher’s Creativity on Teacher’s Performance

Education is an important aspect of society that requires various skills, strategies, and learning models. Innovation is very important to overcome educational problems. The quality of the learning process depends on organizing and managing input from teachers, students, money, and resources. Creativity in learning is a system that is not easy to control but is very important for effective learning. However, monotonous learning can lead to monotony, lack of motivation, and lack of passion in students. The author observes the poor quality of junior high school teachers in Namang District, the absence of a social studies laboratory, learning media facilities, and certification. Many teachers are not linear in their areas of competence. This research aims to determine the influence of infrastructure and teacher creativity on teacher performance in junior high schools in Namang District, Central Bangka Regency. This research will be conducted at junior high schools in Namang District, Central Bangka Regency, using quantitative research with a descriptive approach. The population is teachers in Namang District with a sample of 53 respondents. The research will be carried out through pre-research, followed by a trial phase, where questionnaires will be distributed. Observational data collection techniques, and documentation. Research suggests improving facilities and infrastructure in schools, especially in UKS rooms, to ensure students can relax and unwind. Teacher creativity is essential for effective teaching, offering a variety of methods and practices to avoid monotony. Apart from that, teacher performance also needs to be improved, especially in providing individual guidance to students who have problems. Schools should encourage active and enthusiastic teachers to increase their overall efforts in education.

Utilizing P7 as a Model to Facilitate Language Teacher Development Program: Implication for Applied Linguistics

This research focuses on the imperative need for effective language teacher production in Nigeria to meet the growing demand for language education and applied linguistics. The study introduces the P7 Model, a comprehensive framework that encompasses seven key elements essential for successful language teacher development: Personnel, Potentials, Partnership, Process, Property, Product, and Probing. The research involves a survey of 400 practicing language teachers across various educational levels in Nigeria. The survey examines their perceptions regarding the importance of these seven elements in shaping language teacher education programs. The findings are analyzed using simple percentages. The results highlight strong agreement among respondents concerning the significance of each P7 element in the language teacher development process. Specifically, participants emphasize the need for competent, proficient, and enthusiastic teaching staff (Personnel), collaborative efforts through partnerships, research, and engagement with regulatory bodies (Partnership), admission of candidates with a genuine interest in language teaching and strong academic potential (Potentials), a curriculum emphasizing practical skills and employability (Process), the provision and optimal use of infrastructure and resources (Property), job security, remuneration, incentives, and continuing professional development (Product), and quality assurance and control throughout the teacher development process (Probing). The P7 Model offers a structured approach to guide language program administrators and policymakers in shaping effective language teacher education programs. Prioritizing these elements is crucial to ensure the availability of skilled, dedicated, and enthusiastic language teachers who can meet the demands of the 21st century, ultimately facilitating applied linguistics and language education in Nigeria.

Teaching Mathematics with Creativity

This article explores and reviews the literature about the latest research-based teaching and learning techniques or strategies that are used by passionate and enthusiastic classroom teachers, often for the purpose of enlightening, firing up, or illuminating classroom lessons to grab students’ immediate attention, curiosity, and overall interest in the learning process. The question used to guide the exploration of the existing literature is: How do effective classroom teachers manage to always create a conducive, welcoming, and exciting rather than depressive learning environment? Participants’ engagement, observation and conversations were the main methodologies employed for this review study. While the current research output is often forward-looking, that is, it is too busy moving forward as it comes up daily with suggested new ways of teaching and learning, almost nothing or little attention is given to what is already available. This means there is an implication that a valuable knowledge already discovered could remain largely un-utilized, unused knowledge domain which can be put into practice in classroom settings. Hence, this qualitative, cumulative, and narrative review article highlights some of the latest, creative, and effective teaching techniques that the authors explored and found impressive. These are effective strategies that might be overlooked; but they are effective techniques that can be utilized by the most passionate and enthusiastic classroom teachers for the purpose of making mathematics attractive.

Teaching Mathematics with Creativity

This article explores and reviews the literature about the latest research-based teaching and learning techniques or strategies that are used by passionate and enthusiastic classroom teachers, often for the purpose of enlightening, firing up, or illuminating classroom lessons to grab students’ immediate attention, curiosity, and overall interest in the learning process. The question used to guide the exploration of the existing literature is: How do effective classroom teachers manage to always create a conducive, welcoming, and exciting rather than depressive learning environment? Participants’ engagement, observation and informal-oral interviews (or conversations) were the methodologies employed for this review study. While the current research output is often forward-looking, that is, it is too busy moving forward as it comes up daily with suggested new ways of teaching and learning, almost nothing or little attention is given to what is already available. This means there is an implication that a valuable knowledge already discovered could remain largely un-utilized, unused knowledge domain which can be put into practice in classroom settings. Hence, this qualitative, cumulative, and narrative review article highlights some of the latest, creative, and effective teaching techniques that the authors explored and found impressive. These are effective strategies that might be overlooked, overshadowed, or blurred; but they are effective techniques that can be utilized by the most passionate and enthusiastic classroom teachers for the purpose of making mathematics attractive. It is therefore recommended that the classroom teachers be allowed certain decree of freedom to experiment with new ways of teaching.

Teaching Mathematics with Creativity

This article explores and reviews the literature about the latest research-based teaching and learning techniques or strategies that are used by some of the most passionate and enthusiastic classroom teachers, often for the purpose of enlightening, firing up, or illuminating classroom lessons in order to grab students’ immediate attention, curiosity, and overall interest in the learning process. The question used to guide our exploration of the literature is: How do effective classroom teachers manage to always create a conducive, welcoming, and exciting rather than depressive learning environment? While the current research output is more often than not forward-looking, that is, it is too busy moving forward as it comes up daily with suggested new ways of teaching and learning, almost nothing or little attention is given to what is already available, discovered, or recorded. This means there is an implication that a valuable knowledge domain already discovered could remain largely un-utilized, an unused knowledge domain that is already available in the recorded literature, which can be put into practice in classroom settings. Therefore, this review article highlights some of the latest, creative, and effective teaching techniques that the authors explored and found impressive. These are effective strategies that might be otherwise overlooked, overshadowed, or blurred; but they are effective techniques that can be utilized by the most passionate and enthusiastic classroom teachers for the purpose of making mathematics attractive to all types of learners, often by the ways of generating, stimulating, and/or maintaining students’ interest in the mathematics subject matter.

History of music, electromagnetism and the Sun: an innovative educational resource for pre-service primary school teachers

In general, science education programs for pre-service primary teachers encounter several challenges, including inadequate subject matter training and uninspiring lectures. This results in a disconnection between university learning and real-school experiences. To address these issues, an innovative science teaching course for primary school teachers is proposed. This course emphasizes interdisciplinarity, practical activities and didactical resources, with the ultimate goal of breaking the cycle of unmotivated and unskilled students by producing competent and enthusiastic science teachers. The course structure, implemented at the University of La Laguna, creatively blends experimental sciences, history, music, and maths through engaging methods and practical activities. The integration of simple demonstrations and interdisciplinary approaches has had a positive impact on the pre-service teachers. As a result, they are now better equipped to design innovative educational resources for future primary students and have gained confidence in their abilities to teach science.

EMPOWERMENT OF STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES AND FAMILIES IN UNDERSTANDING THE LEARNING PROCESS AT SDN 03 KEDOYA UTARA

The purpose of this service activity is to empower inclusive schools by utilizing mobile-based interactive learning media to understand the concept of integer multiplication at SDN Kedoya Utara 03. State Elementary School (SDN) Kedoya Utara 03 is one of the inclusive schools in West Jakarta City with 12 students with disabilities (learning difficulties, slow learning, and low mentally disabled). However, only 2 students with learning disabilities (learning difficulties, slow learners) participated in this activity according to their parents' permission. The mobile-based interactive learning media that we teach is the Math Games application: Math for Kids, for planting the concept of multiplication with animations made with programming languages. The implementation methods used in this activity are (1) preparation (Introduction, Education), (2) Implementation (Learning, Workshop, Assistance), and (3) Evaluation (Understanding, Recognition). Based on the results of this activity, there is an increase in understanding of the concept of number multiplication in students with disabilities and workshop activities for children and teachers run well, which is evidenced by enthusiastic teachers practicing the Math Games application: Math for Kids. This activity can be used as a reference material for learning other materials, especially multiplication of whole numbers in other schools.

Александр Еленкин — основоположник криптогамной ботаники в России

Alexander Alexandrovich Elenkin is considered as the founder of the Russian lichenological school and one of the founders of other areas of cryptogamic botany in Russia — algology, mycology, phytopathology, and bryology. Elenkin was born 150 years ago in Warsaw, but almost all his life since 1898 he worked at the Botanical Institute in St. Petersburg. Elenkin has created the Cryptogamic Herbarium, in the walls of which brilliant scientists, specialists in various fields of cryptogamic botany grew up under his leadership. The life of the talented and enthusiastic scientist, teacher and organizer, who devoted himself entirely to science, was not easy, especially at the end, and tragically ended in 1942 in Kazan.

In Memoriam Roland Pechlaner (1934–2022) – A pioneer in lake ecosystem research and lake restoration, A promoter of eco-friendly river engineering, and an enthusiastic teacher

This text describes the bibliography and the merits of Univ.Prof. Roland Pechlaner who passed away on May 1st 2022.'

Dieter Wolf (1941–2023): a life dedicated to understanding protein quality control and the ubiquitin‐proteasome system

Dieter Wolf (1941–2023): a life dedicated to understanding protein quality control and the ubiquitin‐proteasome system

“Interacting with the material differently”: A mixed methods study exploring nursing student engagement and satisfaction with a flipped classroom approach

Engagement is critical for students to meet learning outcomes, yet modern classrooms face challenges with engagement when using a traditional didactic approach. Alternative options include using a flipped classroom where students review content prior to class, and teachers use in-class activities to increase application, analysis, and synthesis of information. This study aimed to (1) explore for changes in student engagement, and satisfaction, and achievement among students in a flipped classroom learning environment between mid and end of semester; and (2) to further explain quantitative results through qualitative student feedback. A convergent mixed methods design was used to recruit sixty-four nursing students in a Midwest U.S. College of Nursing, who completed a survey at mid and end of semester in the Fall of 2015. Students were also given the opportunity to participate in a focus group (n = 36) after the final survey. Most students were satisfied with the flipped classroom approach including before class materials, knowledge check quizzes using real-time response software, and the group test activity. However, participants were unsatisfied with reflective journal writing and group-based in class learning activities. Qualitative focus group data provided an explanation of quantitative results by identifying aspects of the flipped classroom viewed as helpful or not. Themes included small groups, enthusiastic teacher, repetition and application, doubling up on work, engaging, and dislike for course topic. More research is needed on pedogeological approaches to engage modern students, so they are prepared for nursing practice after graduation. The flipped classroom approach, which leverages multiple learning strategies, may be valuable to engage students and promote application of content.

Developing online teaching and learning

Trendsetter Presentation https://doi.org/10.26188/22106807.v1
 
 As an enthusiastic online teacher for more than two decades, I have learned a great deal over the years. This presentation will highlight a few selected lessons, from early realisations to covid-inspired learning. I will share a little of what I have learned from working with esteemed collaborators, including a glimpse of university students’ online learning experiences, and insights into developing online teaching in higher education through continuing professional learning.
 On the basis of research and experience, this presentation will draw parallels between learning online and learning to teach online. Key themes discussed will include diversity, agency, social learning, creativity, and continuity.
 Participants will be invited to reflect upon their own experiences and epiphanies as online teachers and learners.

Teaching in the New Normal through the Lenses of English Teachers

This study looked into the challenges that two Senior High School teachers of English and four Junior High School teachers who taught in a Schools Division in one of the cities in the Philippines encountered in teaching English to high school students, into their coping strategies, and into the insights they gained into such experiences vis-à-vis lesson preparation, lesson delivery, modular teaching modality, and assessment of students’ outputs in the New Normal during the School Year 2020-2021. Narrative research design was employed, and thematic analysis was used to identify, analyze, and interpret patterns of meaning within the data provided by the participants who composed the entire population. The findings reveal the following themes that were gleaned from the participants’ responses. As for the challenges the participants encountered, the following themes were obtained: (1) Preparing Learning Activities that Best Suit Students’ Needs; (2) Finding Ways and Means to Reach Out to Students; (3) Lack of Supervision Engenders Unanswered Retrieved Modules or Unreturned Modules; and (4) Ensuring the Authenticity of Students’ Answers. As regards the coping strategies the participants employed in dealing with the challenges they encountered, the following themes were derived: 1) Functioning at an Optimal Level by Engaging in Favorable Plans of Action; (2) Strategizing Ways to Promote Transfer of Learning; (3) Exuding Optimism and Providing Avenues to Facilitate Distance Learning; and (4) Making Room for Students to Submit Well-thought-out Outputs. With respect to the insight gained by the participants into the challenges they came up against and into the coping strategies they utilized to face up to those challenges, the following themes were attained: (1) Flexible and Enthusiastic Teaching Lead to Successful Lesson Planning; (2); Communication, Creativity, and Corroboration Foster Comprehension Amongst Students (3) Communication and Patience Cultivate an Environment Conducive to Modular Distance Learning; and (4) Devising a Course of Action for Evaluating Students’ Work is Propitious. Indeed, the teachers had the fortitude to face the difficulties that the New Normal brought and discovered that communication, creativity, corroboration, patience, and a plan for evaluating students' outputs could all contribute to effective teaching and learning.

“Research findings and daily teaching practice are worlds apart” – Predictors and consequences of scepticism toward the relevance of scientific content for teaching practice

Research shows that beliefs such as scepticism toward the relevance of scientific content can hinder teachers’ evidence-based practices. Despite this consequence of scepticism, little is known about its predictors. Therefore, we first analysed the relationship between scepticism toward the relevance of scientific content and preferred information sources with a sample of 332 teachers: Scepticism led to a lower preference for scientific sources. Second, we examined characteristics of professional competence as possible predictors of scepticism. We found that scepticism was lower among enthusiastic teachers, but it was higher when teachers believed in inborn teaching competences or were low academic achievers.

What is it like learning with an enthusiastic teacher? – A survey on university EFL students

Students need effort and motivation to get outstanding scholastic achievements and to keep themselves motivated throughout their educational journey. Some students drop out of school owing to demotivation in class. Others struggle to find excitement or interest in their study. One of the most crucial things in keeping students inspired to learn while they are at school is the teacher. There is a lot of research that has studied the effects of teachers' enthusiasm on students' learning, especially learning motivation, but little has been done on EFL (English as a foreign language) students at university. This study aimed to investigate how EFL students feel in relation to their learning motivation when they learn with an enthusiastic teacher. The participants are 150 EFL students from a university in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. To collect and analyze the data needed for this investigation, the researchers used a quantitative method with a questionnaire employed as a measurement tool. The result has found that student’s positive perceptions exceptionally outweigh negative ones. The study concludes by making some recommendations for better motivating students and for future research.