Weeks Of Lessons Research Articles

Science Teachers’ Initial Use of NGSS Science Practices in Diverse Classrooms

ABSTRACT In the landscape of U.S. education, the widespread adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) offers a unique vantage point for researchers to better understand teacher-, school- and classroom-level factors that advance reform initiatives in science classrooms. Addressing a gap in current knowledge, our study probes how secondary science teachers implement one dimension of NGSS-the science practices (SPs). Our data collection encompasses teacher interviews and meticulous observations of science lessons, coded for NGSS science practices (SPs) and inquiry-based teaching. Embracing a methodologically rich approach, our study employs both qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis. Quantitatively, we analyzed 801 weeks of lessons taught by 56 secondary science teachers and found patterns in SP use. Selected high-quality science lessons were then spotlighted, providing examples of the quantitative findings, showcasing teachers use of SPs and inquiry-based teaching strategies. Through our analysis, we found that physical science subjects and participants from the Master of Arts in Science Teaching program demonstrated a higher average use of SPs compared to their life science and undergraduate program counterparts. When analyzing the use of specific SPs, we found that analyzing and interpreting data (SP4) and mathematical and computational thinking (SP5) emerged as noteworthy. This study’s findings carry implications for science teacher education and professional development programs, urging efforts to augment both the quantity of rigor of SP use in the secondary science classroom. Our research contributes insights that can inform strategies for the enhancement of science education alignment with the objectives set forth by NGSS

Peningkatan Kualitas Hafalan Al-Qur’an bagi Siswa MTs Tahfizh Rabbaniy Kota Pekanbaru

This Community service is based on the achievement and quality of memorization of MTs Tahfizh Rabbaniy students who have not been maximized, while tahfizh Al-Qur'an is the main program and spirit for this madrasah. The service is carried out using the method of Participatory Action Research (PAR). This service is carried out in the form of training and mentoring. Starting with training methods to memorize the Qur'an in accordance with the needs of students theory and practice, memorization deposit system and strategy muraja'ah. Followed by mentoring for 2 days and ended with an evaluation after being applied for one week of lessons. As a result, the ability and quality of students ' memorization is better with an indicator of 83,7% of students can read their memorization from the beginning of juz well.

The Impact of Flipped Classroom Instructional Model in Teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) Among Lower Secondary Pupils

English is a global language that most people use all around the world. English is the second language vastly used as a communication tool in daily life in Malaysia. It is also a compulsory subject to learn at schools from primary school to secondary school. However, many second language learners may have higher possibilities of facing various challenges in learning English as a Second Language (ESL) in Malaysia. Hence, the purpose of this study was to compare the flipped classroom and traditional classroom teaching approaches in secondary school pupils’ overall English language performance in these particulars: Grammar, Reading, and Writing, as well as to evaluate the perceptions of flipped learning experience among lower secondary pupils in learning ESL. The study was conducted quantitatively with a quasi-experimental method set in pre and post-tests design and consisted of 50 pupils separated equally into control and experimental groups. Seven weeks of lessons were conducted for both control and experimental groups. One-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to adjust the pre-test scores of experimental group and study whether there are any significant differences on the effectiveness by implementing flipped classroom approach in experimental group despite the covariate (pre-test score) exists.After the post-test was conducted in the experimental group, the pupils were given a set of questionnaires containing 14 items to respond to and gauge their perceptions of flipped classroom learning experience based on motivation, effectiveness, engagement, and satisfaction. Findings reveal that the pupils in the experimental group achieved higher scores than the control group on their post-test scores in learning Grammar, Reading, and Writing by implementing a flipped classroom teaching approach. Also, the questionnaire's evidence indicated that most of the pupils had favorable perceptions of flipped classroom learning experience in the experimental group. This study indicates that flipped classroom teaching approaches positively enhanced pupils’ academic performance and learning experience.

The Ward Organist

The Ward Organist

Analysis of Undergraduates’ Environmentally Friendly Behavior: Case Study of Tzu Chi University Environmental Education Program

The Tzu Chi University Environmental Education Program, based on a theory of change, consisted of four weeks of lessons involving environmental and sustainability topics, followed by hands-on sorting of recyclables and four weeks of weekly documenting of environmentally friendly behavior. The Program was analyzed using written thoughts from the Experimental Group, as well as 78 and 116 valid survey responses of the Control and Experimental Groups, respectively. The survey consisted of questions regarding demographics and five constructs: environmental awareness, attitudes, norms, efficacy and behavior. No significant average differences were found between the pre-tests of the Control and Experimental Groups, or between the pre- and post-test of the Control Group. The post-test of the Experimental Group displayed a significantly higher average value when compared to both the pre-test of the Experimental Group and the post-test of the Control Group, as the means of the self-reported environmental awareness, attitudes, norms, efficacy and behavior significantly improved statistically after participating in the Program. Analysis revealed that lessons from the Program increased undergraduates’ environmental awareness and attitudes; “hands-on recyclables sorting” and “weekly documentation of environmentally friendly behavior” strengthened undergraduates’ environmental norms and efficacy, while their combination resulted in a significant improvement toward environmentally friendly behavior.

Improving the Assessment Performance in Philippine Politics and Governance through Project Reconnect

Aims: The study aimed to improve the assessment performance of Grade 12 students in a specialized course under the Academic Track / Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS) Strand called Philippine Politics and Governance.
 Study Design: The study primarily used the descriptive-comparative method.
 Place and Duration of Study: Binulasan Integrated School, Barangay Binulasan, Infanta, Quezon Province, Philippines, between January 2021 and March 2021.
 Methodology: The participants were seven Grade 12-HUMSS students who got “below expectation” or 74% and below in assessment performance after four weeks of lessons. The study aimed to improve the assessment performance through Project RECONNECT (Remedial Class On New Normal Education Through Phone Call Tutoring Strategy). To determine the increase in students’ assessment performance, pretest and posttest results were compared. Descriptive was used to get the mean of the test results. The t-test for the dependent sample was used to find out if there is a significant difference in the test results.
 Results: The assessment performance in Philippine Politics and Governance of seven Grade 12 HUMSS students before and after the implementation of Project RECONNECT was below average and upper average respectively. Project RECONNECT (Remedial Class On New Normal Education through Phone Call Tutoring Strategy) was an effective tool for improving the assessment performance of students.
 Conclusion: It concluded that students in this assessment performance lack knowledge and skills in this subject. They need remediation to improve their assessment performance in Philippine Politics and Governance. The assessment performance of “below expectation” students could improve through phone call tutoring as a form of remediation during this time of the pandemic. Project RECONNECT was commendable to improve the assessment performance of students.

Strategies From 11 U.S. Medical Schools for Integrating Basic Science Into Core Clerkships.

Calls for curricular reform in medical schools and enhanced integration of basic and clinical science have resulted in a shift toward preclerkship curricula that enhance the clinical relevance of foundational science instruction and provide students with earlier immersion in the clinical environment. These reforms have resulted in shortened preclerkship curricula, yet the promise of integrated basic science education into clerkships has not been sufficiently realized because of barriers such as the nature of clinical practice, time constraints, and limited faculty knowledge. As personalized medicine requires that physicians have a more nuanced understanding of basic science, this is cause for alarm. To address this problem, several schools have developed instructional and assessment strategies to better integrate basic science into the clinical curriculum. In this article, faculty and deans from 11 U.S. medical schools discuss the strategies they implemented and the lessons they learned to provide guidance to other schools seeking to enhance basic science education during clerkships. The strategies include program-level interventions (e.g., longitudinal sessions dedicated to basic science during clerkships, weeks of lessons dedicated to basic science interspersed in clerkships), clerkship-level interventions (e.g., case-based learning with online modules, multidisciplinary clerkship dedicated to applied science), bedside-level interventions (e.g., basic science teaching scripts, self-directed learning), and changes to formative and summative assessments (e.g., spaced repetition/leveraging test-enhanced learning, developing customized examinations). The authors discovered that: interventions were more successful when buy-in from faculty and students was considered, central oversight by curricular committees collaborating with faculty was key, and some integration efforts may require schools to provide significant resources. All schools administered the United States Medical Licensing Examination Step 1 exam to students after clerkship, with positive outcomes. The authors have demonstrated that it is feasible to incorporate basic science into clinical clerkships, but certain challenges remain.

Investigation of Students' Cognitive Learning in Mathematics Lessons Supported with Writing Activities

The aim of the present research was to examine the contribution of expository and journal writing activities to the cognitive development of 7th-grade students with varying levels of academic achievement in mathematics education. The qualitative research approach has been adopted in this research. The lessons were conducted in one 7th grade class of 28 students using a total of 26 expository writing activities and 6 journal writings designed to address the topics of lines, angles and measuring angles, operations with integers, rational numbers, algebraic expressions, equations, ratio and proportion.‖ During the 14 weeks of lessons, three themes were created and various codes were established under these themes by means of content analysis of the written explanations obtained from students' expository writing activities and diaries. In addition, the expository writing activities were analyzed using an analytical scoring rubric (ASR). The findings were coded under three themes: (1) features of the students' explanations (2) use of mathematical language and (3) mathematical algorithms and calculations. According to the data obtained, it has been determined that writing activities contribute to the cognitive development of particularly those students with a moderate level of academic achievement. In addition, it was revealed that the responses provided in writing activities by students with different levels of academic achievement varied. Based on the results of the study, it is recommended that writing activities be implemented over a long and continuous period of time.

Examining a Universal Design for Learning Approach in Music Education

typical classroom in Ontario is filled with a variety of learners with diverse needs. These various needs require teachers to differentiate instruction or create a universal design for learning (UDL) so that all students can participate. As a result, research is needed to explore and describe successful programs that can support all learners. One way to do this is to develop pedagogical practices for atypical learners and examine how these could be broadened for more typical learners. This research examines a series of general music lessons, including singing, playing percussion instruments and musical games, for atypical twelve-year-old learners. An Action Research methodology was used to examine six weeks of lessons taught to three students by the primary researcher. Data were collected using reflective journals, portfolios and videos of the sessions. Thematic analysis was conducted to examine similarities and differences in learner profiles, trends in the content of the lessons and pedagogical development over time, as well as to define some strategies or activities that could form the basis of a UDL approach. Despite the students’ atypical learning profiles, only minor accommodations were required during lessons. Overall, this research demonstrates the value of a pedagogical approach that articulates learning goals while allowing the path to achieving those goals to be different for each student, reinforcing the importance of the UDL approach. Moreover, the action research methodology highlights the importance of incorporating opportunities to work with atypical students in music teacher education, so that future teachers can develop a UDL approach.

Do Lessons in Nature Boost Subsequent Classroom Engagement? Refueling Students in Flight.

Teachers wishing to offer lessons in nature may hold back for fear of leaving students keyed up and unable to concentrate in subsequent, indoor lessons. This study tested the hypothesis that lessons in nature have positive—not negative—aftereffects on subsequent classroom engagement. Using carefully matched pairs of lessons (one in a relatively natural outdoor setting and one indoors), we observed subsequent classroom engagement during an indoor instructional period, replicating these comparisons over 10 different topics and weeks in the school year, in each of two third grade classrooms. Pairs were roughly balanced in how often the outdoor lesson preceded or followed the classroom lesson. Classroom engagement was significantly better after lessons in nature than after their matched counterparts for four of the five measures developed for this study: teacher ratings; third-party tallies of “redirects” (the number of times the teacher stopped instruction to direct student attention back onto the task at hand); independent, photo-based ratings made blind to condition; and a composite index each showed a nature advantage; student ratings did not. This nature advantage held across different teachers and held equally over the initial and final 5 weeks of lessons. And the magnitude of the advantage was large. In 48 out of 100 paired comparisons, the nature lesson was a full standard deviation better than its classroom counterpart; in 20 of the 48, the nature lesson was over two standard deviations better. The rate of “redirects” was cut almost in half after a lesson in nature, allowing teachers to teach for longer periods uninterrupted. Because the pairs of lessons were matched on teacher, class (students and classroom), topic, teaching style, week of the semester, and time of day, the advantage of the nature-based lessons could not be attributed to any of these factors. It appears that, far from leaving students too keyed up to concentrate afterward, lessons in nature may actually leave students more able to engage in the next lesson, even as students are also learning the material at hand. Such “refueling in flight” argues for including more lessons in nature in formal education.

Socrates in the schools from Scotland to Texas: Replicating a study on the effects of a Philosophy for Children program

In this article we report the findings of a randomised control clinical trial that assessed the impact of a Philosophy for Children program and replicated a previous study conducted in Scotland by Topping and Trickey. A Cognitive Abilities Test (CAT in the UK or CogAT in the USA) was administered as a pretest and a posttest to randomly selected experimental groups (N = 363, 186 seventh graders + 177 eighth graders) and control groups (N = 177, 79 seventh graders + 98 eighth graders). The students in the experimental group engaged in philosophy lessons in a setting of structured, collaborative inquiry in their language arts classes for one hour per week for a number of weeks. The control group received the standard language arts curriculum in that one hour. The study found that the seventh grade students who had experienced the P4C program showed significant gains relative to those in the seventh grade control group at a high level of statistical significance, but the eighth grade students in the experimental group did not show such gains over the eighth grade control group. It was discovered that the seventh grade teachers started the program early in the school year and continued it for a period of 22 to 26 weeks, while the eighth grade teachers started much later and used the program for only 4 to 10 weeks. Our findings suggest that the P4C program must involve students in activities for a significant period of time before the program shows results, but that a meaningful impact on students’ cognitive abilities can be achieved in about 24 weeks of lessons, less than half the time evidenced by the study by Topping and Trickey.

Tension Release in Piano Playing: Teaching Alexander Technique to Undergraduate Piano Majors

This article explores the effectiveness of Alexander Technique in reducing tension in piano playing. Much of the literature regarding the Alexander Technique tends to be guide books for various uses targeting actors, musicians, sportsmen and so forth. There are also a growing number of alternative medical research studies that examine the effectiveness of the Alexander Technique in reducing disability in Parkinson disease, improving postural equilibrium, and relieving back pain. However in the area of music performance, little empirical research has been carried out. In this study, fifteen undergraduate piano majors from a local university in Malaysia were recruited as research subjects. Four major principles of the Alexander Technique were employed in this test. Observation was carried out and a report of tension in certain body parts was recorded. The subjects went through fourteen week of lessons taught by an Alexander Technique instructor, and a survey was carried out. The results indicate a positive outcome that Alexander Technique may help pianists to reduce tension.

An After-School Program on Nutrition and Physical Activity for Elementary School Children

This study describes the Food and Fitness Fun Education Program (FFFEP), which was implemented in an after-school child care program in California. FFFEP consisted of 16 weeks of lessons and activities. Changes in healthy eating and physical activity in children and their parents were analyzed using pre- and posttests for children and a parent survey. In all, 1,810 children in kindergarten through fifth grades participated in the program. Testing of the children took place at the beginning and end of the program. A sample of parents in the 48 sites participated in surveys at the end of the program. Seventy-two percent of the children in the program were Hispanic. Children and parents reported healthier eating and an increase in physical activity as a result of the children’s participation.

Restraints to reform: The congruence of teacher and student actions in a chemistry classroom

AbstractAn interpretive methodology was employed to examine interrelations between teacher and student actions in a context of teaching and learning in an urban high school in Australia, a teacher of 20 years' experience, and a Grade 11 chemistry class. Data sources included teacher and student interviews, direct observation and videotapes of 4 weeks of lessons, and responses to a classroom environment survey. Three narratives were constructed for a typical lesson, the perspectives of the teacher, and the perspectives of a composite student. These narratives were used to describe what happened and communicate what we learned from the study. Initially, the teacher and students had difficulty describing their beliefs; however, as the study progressed they used language to describe their practices and construct mental models that fit with their practices and beliefs about learning. Teacher and student goals, beliefs about teacher and learner roles, and constructions of the context were coherent to such an extent that there was little impetus for change. These findings are discussed in terms of the difficulties of initiating and sustaining reform when the teacher and students are satisfied with what is happening and other sociocultural factors tend to support the status quo.

TIME VARIABLES IN CLASSROOM RESEARCH: A STUDY OF EIGHT URBAN SECONDARY SCHOOL MATHEMATICS CLASSES

Summary. The use of time by teachers and pupils was examined in eight secondary mathematics classes by systematic observations made during a week of lessons in the autumn and again in the spring. Time lost from instructional activities was assessed for each classroom in terms of a ‘time filter’ from which was derived a figure indexing the probable value of the minutes per week a typical child in the class spent actively ‘on‐task’. On average this figure was slightly more than half the minutes per week scheduled for mathematics. Results were discussed in terms of the stability of the observations and the interpretation of time‐use data.