Regular Classroom Teachers Research Articles

Concerns and confidences expressed by teaching staff about the shift of medical education to online mode in South India during the COVID 19 pandemic

Background: Online education is prevalent in the country since the beginning of the 21st century. The outbreak of COVID-19, the government declared lockdown, and subsequent closing of institutions was unexpected, and it forced medical colleges to launch online programs for undergraduate courses. Due to the sudden shifting to online mode, most teaching staff members face the challenges of lacking online teaching experience, early preparation, or support from educational technology teams. This institution was in touch with the teachers and students through online mode, enquiring about their welfare and wellness. The present study focuses on concerns and confidences presented by the medical teaching staff on online medical education. 
 Method: This study was conducted at Jubilee Mission Medical College & Research Institute, a medical college in central Kerala in south India. This institution conducted online classes for undergraduate (UG) medical students through Google classroom and YouTube platforms. There was 186 teaching staff from 21 departments involved in undergraduate (MBBS) teaching in this Institute. In this study, we collected information from the teaching staff about the online classes that they handled. A 27-point survey form was designed using a Google survey and mailed to them. The responses were collected in a week. The data collected was analyzed.
 Result: Fifty-one members responded. All responding teachers preferred regular classroom teaching due to the provision for better teacher-student interaction. However, one-third of respondents wanted the continuation of online classes, even after resuming classroom teaching. Out of 51 responses, 24 teachers graded the success of the programs more than 90%. The major suggestions received for further improvement of the program were that the departments provided their hardware and software, centralized online sessions for practical purposes, and collected regular feedback from students.
 Conclusion: The successes of our online teaching programs were limited to didactic teaching only. It could not replace the actual patient examination in a clinical setting, which involves communication skills and emotional relationships. This adversary must be converted into an opportunity to develop e-learning programs. This pandemic should open our eyes, so we learn from it and be better prepared for the future.

Testing a Culturally Adapted Youth Substance Use Prevention Program in a Mexican Border City: Mantente REAL

Background: This article reports on a test of a youth substance use prevention program conducted in Nogales-Sonora, a Mexican city on the US border. Objective: The study tested the efficacy of a version of the keepin' it REAL curriculum for middle school students that was culturally adapted for Mexico and renamed Mantente REAL. Methods: Students in 7th grade classrooms in four public schools participated in the study (N = 1,418, 49% female, mean age = 11.9). Using a clustered randomized design, two schools received the intervention and two served as a treatment-as-usual control group. Regular classroom teachers were trained to deliver the twelve-lesson Mantente REAL manualized curriculum. Parents provided active consent and students gave written assent to collect pretest and posttest questionnaire data, 7 months apart, at the beginning and end of the 2017-2018 academic year. We assessed the Mantente REAL intervention with general linear models adjusted for baseline, attrition, non-linear distributions, and school-level clustering. Results: Students who participated in Mantente REAL reported relatively less frequent use of alcohol and illicit drugs other than marijuana, compared to students in control schools. Males alone reported desirable intervention effects for marijuana use. These desirable effects were especially strong among students who reported higher initial levels of involvement in risky behaviors. Among students more at risk, both females and males receiving the program reported relative reductions in the frequency of use of alcohol and illicit drugs. Conclusions: These promising results within the Mexico-US border context support a further dissemination of the intervention and additional youth prevention research in the region.

Teachers’ Demographic Factors Influencing Their Attitudes Towards Education of Students with Learning Disabilities in Regular Classrooms in Ibadan, Nigeria

The study investigated the level of attitudes towards the education of students with learning disabilities among teachers in regular education classrooms. It also examined the influence of four teachers’ demographic factors on their attitudes towards education of students with learning disabilities in regular classrooms Ibadan, Nigeria. The descriptive research design was adopted for the study whilst the multi-stage sampling procedure was adopted to select the study sample. A total of 125 teachers participated in the study, 64 (51.2%) were males whilst 61 (48.8%) were females. A self-designed questionnaire tagged “Teachers’ Attitude towards Education of Students with Learning Disabilities in Regular Education Classrooms” (TAESLDRECQ) with a reliability of 0. 81 was utilized to collect data. One research question and four hypotheses were generated and tested. Percentage, mean, standard deviation, t-test and Analysis of variance (ANOVA) statistics were employed to analyze the data generated from the participants at 0.05 level of significance. Whilst the result of the research question reveals a grand mean of 2.59 which is slightly higher than the criterion mean of 2.50, the result from the test of norm showed that 9.6% (n=12) teachers had negative attitude, whilst 90.4% (n=113) teachers had positive attitude. Therefore, it was concluded that there is a positive attitude towards education of students with learning disabilities in regular education classrooms. The results shows that teachers’ attitudes towards education of students with learning disabilities in regular education classrooms based on: gender (Crit-t = 1.96, Cal.t = 1.440, DF = 123; educational qualification (F = 1.630, p(.171)>.05); years of experience (F = 2.329, p(.102)>.05); and category of students taught which could be either junior secondary or senior secondary class (Crit-t = 1.96, Cal.t = .035, DF = 123, p(0.973) towards education of students with learning disabilities in regular education classrooms. Hence, it was concluded that teachers’ attitude towards education of students with learning disabilities is the same irrespective of their gender, educational qualification, years of experience and category of student taught (either junior secondary or senior secondary class). On the basis of these findings, it was recommended that there should be more trainings and in-service professional development programmes such as orientation, workshops, seminars, conferences to allow teachers in regular education classrooms to acquire knowledge, skills and values required for the adequate education of students with learning disabilities in their classrooms.

Regular teachers instructional approaches to teaching children with special needs in selected basic schools in Sunyani municipality, Ghana

Introduction The regular classroom teacher needs to understand the uniqueness of every child and tailor the instructional process to meet the needs of all children. Purpose: The purpose was to find out whether regular teachers in basic schools have the requisite knowledge about children with special needs in their classrooms. Again, it focused on the challenges related to available teaching and learning resources given to regular teachers in teaching children with special needs. Methodology: The study adopted the cross-sectional survey. In all, forty (40) teachers who had children with special needs in their classrooms were conveniently selected from (10) public basic schools for the study. The instrument used was a four point-point Likert-scale questionnaire supported with an observation guide. Cronbach’s Alpha was used to determine the reliability of the instruments with .71 index. Results: The study revealed that majority of the teachers (M=1.669, SD= 0.414) do not haveadequate knowledge to handle children with special needs in their classrooms. Further, (M=1.531, SD=0.485) of the teachers revealed that they did not use instructional strategies that meet the needs of children with special needs in their classrooms. This was confirmed by majority (M=1.634, SD=0.476) of the teachers when they were observed in their teaching to augment findings of the questionnaire item that sought to find out the instructional strategies regular teachers use in teaching. Recommendations: It is important to extend the course duration of pre-service teachers by the Colleges of Education, to have sufficient avenues for fieldwork or practical experiences about the learning needs of children with special needs.

A study on faculty perspective towards alternative teaching practices (E-Learning — Blackboard) during COVID 19

Background/Objectives: The novel coronavirus causing COVID 19 has emerged at the end of 2019 as a threat to the health and wellbeing of millions of people within a few weeks of its outbreak. Globally, many institutions replace traditional teaching with online mode. A sudden transition of teaching has its merits and demerits. Keeping this in view, the present study is focused to assess the perception of the faculty Alternative teaching practices (ELearning– Blackboard) concerning COVID 19. Methods: A semi-structured survey questionnaire was used for data collection. The analysis was based on 42 faculties who had been working in selected colleges at Jizan province, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Descriptive statistics are used to analyze the data.Findings: The findings of the study related to the faculty perspective were grouped into four categories. In the first category of analyzing perception of faculties towards the E-learning platform, it was found that all the faculties were using university platforms for E-learning. Due to a lack of previous experience nearly half of them experienced technical difficulties. In the second category, the perception of faculties about E-learning course delivery. It was mentioned that the student’s response was found less in the online class. It was further noted that online teaching was least effective for laboratory-based and clinical based courses. The third category emphasized E-learning difficulties experienced by faculties. The fourth category was the faculties’ perception of effective teaching mode. Majority of them disagreed to the statement that “Classroom teaching could be completely replaced by online teaching mode”.Novelty: While E-learning is on its pace in the field of education in the present generation. It may be a supplement for regular classroom teaching rather than a complete replacement, particularly practical oriented subjects. Keywords: COVID 19; E-Learning; traditional teaching; alternative teaching practices

Behavioral, social and school functioning in children with Pompe disease

PurposeTo improve our understanding of the behavioral, social, and emotional functioning of children and adolescents with Pompe disease. MethodParents/guardians of 21 children (age 5-18y) with infantile (IPD) or late-onset (LOPD) Pompe disease on long-term enzyme replacement therapy completed three standardized checklists regarding their child's behavior: the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), Conners 3 Parent (Conners-3), Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-2 (BRIEF2), and a survey of their child's educational services. ResultsDescriptive statistics were used to summarize the findings for each behavior checklist. Age standard scores from each checklist were reported for the IPD (n = 17, 9 females, mean age = 9y, 4 mo; SD = 3y, 8mo) and LOPD (n = 4, 1 female; mean = 11y, 2mo; SD = 2y, 1mo) groups. The majority of children with Pompe exhibited age-appropriate behavior and emotional functioning on these standardized checklists. However, negative mood symptoms, learning problems, decreased participation in structured social activities, and attentional difficulties were more frequently reported in children with IPD in comparison to same-aged peers. Parents of children with LOPD reported fewer problematic behaviors but endorsed negative mood symptoms and difficulties with peer relations. Most children received accommodations in regular education classrooms at school. ConclusionsThese standardized behavior checklists are useful screening tools for the early identification and treatment of behavior, emotional, and social concerns in children with Pompe disease.

Types of social help-seeking strategies in different and across specific task stages of a real, challenging long-term task and their role in academic achievement

Social help seeking (SHS) is an important strategy for successful self-regulated learning at all school levels. The aim of this longitudinal study is threefold: to ascertain the existence of different types of SHS strategies in various task stages of creating an individual academic paper, examine the extent to which these types of SHS strategies change in the course of that challenging long-term task and analyse the extent to which these types are relevant to academic achievement. This examination extends previous studies by adopting a task-specific, person-centred development perspective on SHS outside regular classroom instruction. In particular, we explore SHS types in the context of a real, long-term task, whereby aspects neglected in previous studies (need for help, help sources based on specific issue areas) are used for type creation and test for differences in academic achievement. Three online questionnaires were completed by 603 upper secondary school-level students (62.9% female) with a mean age of 17.3 (SD = .71) within one school year. Latent class analyses, latent transition analyses (LTA) and nonparametric procedures (Kruskal-Wallis H test, post hoc Dunn-Bonferroni test) were performed. Different SHS types were identified (independents, factual supervisor-focused, factual supervisor-focused and motivational family-focused, motivational family-focused, and factual and motivational family-focused) and found to vary over different task stages. Moreover, LTA indicated a considerable change between the SHS types over time. Nevertheless, no significant differences in achievement emerged between the types per task stage, thus reflecting the adage, 'There is more than one way of doing it'.

Knowledge on active participation in classroom among nursing and midwifery students

Effective learning-teaching process is ensured when students interact and actively participate in the learning process. Though most instructors stressed the value of active participation in classrooms of universities and colleges, achieving success in eliciting it appears more difficult. There is high tendency of instructors in higher institutions to cover the tasks and responsibilities of their students. The main aim of this study was to assess the knowledge of and to identify strategies for improving active participation in classroom among nursing and midwifery students. Institution based cross-sectional survey was conducted in Jimma University onrandomlyselected 126 students (81 nursing and 45 midwifery). The collected data were coded, checked and cleaned and entered into SPSS version 23 for analysis. Simple descriptive statistics was used to see the frequency distribution whereas cross-tabulation and Pearson Chi-square test were used to see the association between variables. Majority, 106 (84.1%) of the students had good knowledge about the benefits of active participation in classroom and they suggested strategies to be used by regular classroom teachers to improve students’ participation. Students’ academic year has shown statistically significant association with their knowledge about active participation. The authors of this study strongly recommend instructors to use active learning methods and department heads need to follow teaching methods implemented by their respective faculty.

Differentiation of Instruction for Gifted Learners: Collated Evaluative Studies of Teacher Classroom Practices

ABSTRACT This article focuses on research findings from multiple evaluation studies on the teacher use of differentiated practices for gifted learners that have implications for best practice in gifted education internationally. Research questions centered on what specific differentiation practices were employed with gifted learners and distinctions found between levels of teaching and content areas. Using the Classroom Observation Scale-Revised (COS-R) with 329 teachers in six different school districts in four states in the Eastern United States, we report data on differentiation practices that suggest that teachers of the gifted as well as regular classroom teachers underutilized these practices, did not match them to instructional purposes, and failed to implement them as effectively as possible to have an impact on gifted student learning. Moreover, the lack of consistent use of flexible grouping practices to support instructional goals was apparent in the majority of regular classroom contexts. Findings also suggested that teachers who were using differentiated practices were using them at least somewhat effectively, suggesting that some teachers were successful in implementing best-practice strategies. The results of these multiple studies also revealed that middle school classrooms were less effective in the use of differentiation for the gifted than either elementary or high schools. A comparison of results by subject area showed that math classrooms were the most successful in implementing differentiation practices for the gifted. Overall, the study suggests that differentiated practices are underutilized in the majority of gifted program sites studied. Implications from the study suggest that more careful attention needs to be paid to the use of specific differentiation practices, found in the research literature and taught in model university gifted education training programs.

Virtualization of science education: a lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nowadays, e-learning and virtual labs have gained substantial popularity in science education. Amid the COVID-19 shutdowns, regular in-person classroom teaching and lab courses are suspended in several countries worldwide. In this scenario, virtual classes and online resources could serve more effectively as a possible alternative way of learning science from home.

Evaluation of an explicit vocabulary teaching intervention for children learning English as an additional language in primary school

Many children learning English as an additional language (EAL) possess lower levels of English vocabulary knowledge relative to their non-EAL English-speaking peers. Longitudinal work suggests that this group discrepancy does not decrease markedly over time as a result of regular classroom teaching. Twelve EAL learners with English vocabulary weaknesses took part in a low-intensity, 10-week vocabulary intervention. Working one-to-one with speech and language therapy students, children took part in weekly activities designed to promote receptive and productive knowledge of 20 target words within the Tier-2 vocabulary category. When assessed on a bespoke word knowledge assessment, children made statistically significant gains between pretest and posttest in both receptive and productive knowledge of taught words, and maintained this knowledge six months later. Multi-component explicit vocabulary instruction offering opportunities for active engagement and discussion is thus presented as one potentially effective means of promoting the Tier-2 vocabulary knowledge of EAL learners in primary school in England.

Language and reading development in children learning English as an additional language in primary school in England

Children learning English as an additional language (EAL) are a growing population of learners in English primary schools. These children begin school with differing levels of English language proficiency and tend to underperform in relation to their non‐EAL peers on measures of English oral language and reading. However, little work has examined the developmental trajectories of these skills in EAL learners in England. EAL learners and 33 non‐EAL peers in Year 4 (age 8–9 years) were assessed at three time points over 18 months on measures of oral language (vocabulary, grammar and listening comprehension), phonological processing (spoonerisms and rapid automatised naming) and reading skills (single‐word decoding and passage reading). At t1, EAL learners scored significantly lower than non‐EAL peers in receptive and expressive vocabulary (breadth but not depth), spoonerisms and passage reading accuracy. Contrary to previous research, no significant group differences were found in listening or reading comprehension skills. With the exception of passage reading accuracy, there was no evidence for convergence or divergence between the groups in rate of progress over time. After three years of English‐medium classroom instruction, EAL learners continue to underperform relative to their non‐EAL peers in breadth of English vocabulary knowledge. This discrepancy in vocabulary knowledge does not appear to narrow as a result of regular classroom instruction in the run up to the final stages of primary school, pinpointing vocabulary as a key target for intervention.

Inclusion of a deafblind student in a public school in Macapá, Amapá State

The aim of this paper is to socialize the schooling of a deafblind student in a school in Macapá, Amapá. We will present aspects of the teaching learning process, didactic resources, methodology, advances and difficulties. The student is a 10 years-old female, reported with deep deafness and blindness. She is studying at the 3rd year of Elementary I for the second time. The regular classroom teacher has a higher education level and has already been mentored by the Multifunctional Resource Room (MRR) teacher. However, this teacher says she has no other professionals to accompany students with difficulties, so the student does not attended classes. At MRR, the student was assiduous and communicated with the teacher through reference objects and tactile pounds. She played games and activities using tact and overlapping hands, and recognized the surroundings when conducted freely by the teacher. This teacher has college and postgraduate degrees and is pursuing a master's degree. We emphasize the importance of trained professionals to the deafblind person from an early age to higher education, because it is necessary to meet their needs, respecting and valuing their time and knowledge. However, there are still noticeable gaps in school to become inclusive, regarding the ability of providing access, permanence and completion of studies.

小学校1年生通常の学級担任への授業コンサルテーション コンサルティの支援実行を促進するための コンサルタントの計画的な介入のフェードアウトの検討

小学校1年生通常の学級担任への授業コンサルテーション コンサルティの支援実行を促進するための コンサルタントの計画的な介入のフェードアウトの検討

Illustrating formative assessment in task-based language teaching

Abstract There has been an increasing professional and policy interest in using formative assessment as part of the learning process in the classroom, with increasing numbers of educators regarding it as an effective means of closing the gap between students’ current and desired performance. However, there is a range of different views on what actually constitutes formative assessment and how it may be incorporated into regular classroom teaching. Furthermore, formative assessment is often misconstrued in reality, and teachers face considerable challenges in implementing formative assessment in their daily classes, particularly in the ESL teaching context. The purpose of this article is, therefore, to review how formative assessment has recently been discussed in both general education and L2 assessment fields, and to illustrate how formative assessment can be implemented in task-based language teaching in the daily ESL classroom.

The Effects of Teaching Complex Grapheme-Phoneme Correspondences: Evidence from a Dual Site Cluster Trial with At-Risk Grade 2 Students

ABSTRACT We evaluated the impact of teaching complex grapheme–phoneme correspondences (GPC) derived from the Simplicity Principle to at-risk poor readers in Grade 2 classrooms, using a two-arm dual site matched control trial intervention. Poor word readers (n = 149) were allocated to either a) Simplicity GPC (n= 79) or b) Letter-Name Control (n= 70) small group reading programs, and received intervention for 12–15 hours over 12 weeks. Students were matched on baseline reading, language, parent demographics, and observed regular classroom teaching quality. Results of hierarchical data modeling showed advantages for the GPC-group for word reading, pseudoword reading, and sentence comprehension at post-test moderated by pre-test phonological awareness skills. The results provide support for teaching complex GPCs derived from the Simplicity Principle as an approach to intervention for word reading, but suggest that children with low PA need additional supports.

Do students in a looping classroom get higher grades and report a better teacher-student relationship than those in a traditional setting?

ABSTRACT This study compared the academic achievement and teacher-student relationship of students who remained with the same teacher for two consecutive years in so-called looping classrooms (n = 98), to their peers in traditional one-year classrooms (n = 94). Contrary to prior research on the topic, this study used a strict protocol to ensure that teachers in looping and regular classrooms had similar profiles and valued similar educational practices. Results revealed that students who experienced looping had higher school grades in mathematics and writing and marginally better grades in reading compared to their counterparts schooled in annual classrooms. However, results regarding the teacher-student relationship were inconsistent and did not provide clear evidence in favour of either looping or annual settings. Overall, looping appears to be a quite simple and inexpensive measure likely to provide benefits on students’ academic achievement. Such findings provide support for expanding looping programmes in elementary schools.

Role of resource centres in facilitating inclusive education: experience from Ethiopia

This article focuses on access of students with disabilities to education in Ethiopia and, in particular, on the role of inclusive education resource centres (IERCs). A mixed-methods approach was used to collect both quantitative and qualitative data. The participants were school administrators, itinerant teachers, special educators, regular classroom teachers, and school directors. It was identified that a large number of students and teachers benefitted from the support provided by IERCs. The target schools are equipped with materials that support inclusive pedagogy. The awareness of parents and communities is gradually changing, except in some unreached communities. As a result, the number of students with disabilities enrolled is increasing. There were some barriers observed, such as assignment of itinerant teachers to a large number of satellite schools, high turnover of local government officials, and whether there was investment in the sustainability of IERCs and the positive outcomes observed.

The roles of student gender, race, and psychopathology in teachers' identification of students for services

The present study investigated whether academic, social, emotional, and behavioral factors mediated disparities in teachers' identification of boys and girls from different racial/ethnic backgrounds in need of family-based prevention services. Teachers (n = 157) from regular education classrooms at 17 public elementary schools anonymously nominated the boy (n = 157) and girl (n = 156) in their class most in need of services. An age- and grade-matched boy (n = 158) and girl (n = 156) were randomly selected from the same classrooms, resulting in a total of 627 students (Mean age = 8.37; 62% White, 8% Black, 8% Latina/o, 13% Asian-American, 9% mixed/other). Teachers rated students' aggressive behavior and depressive, generalized anxiety, inattentive, oppositional defiant, and conduct symptoms. Mediation models were tested accounting for clustering of students within classrooms. Black students were more likely to be nominated than all other groups, and Latina/o and White students were more likely to be nominated than Asian-American students. Racial/ethnic disparities were largely accounted for by inattentive symptoms and externalizing problems for boys and girls. However, Black students were still more likely to be nominated than White or Asian-American students. Consultation could prepare teachers to accurately identify and manage variations in problematic behaviors among students from diverse racial/ethnic backgrounds.

A longitudinal observation of technology-mediated feedback for L2 learners of German

AbstractThis article provides a longitudinal study of L2 learners of German who used a computer-assisted language learning (CALL) system that formed part of their regular classroom instruction. The 42 learners were enrolled in four consecutive university language courses at a beginner and intermediate level. The study compares two different feedback types, metalinguistic feedback and repetition, which were provided for the same exercise type over the course of four semesters. The exercise type required learners to build sentences from a set of predefined, uninflected words. While the grammatical focus of the exercises changed over time, many of the same grammatical constructions were present in all four courses. The study discusses the changes in learner performance and error correction behavior as students became more proficient in their knowledge of the L2 grammar and were exposed to the technology-mediated feedback that remained consistent throughout system use over the four language courses.