Journal articles on the topic 'Life sciences – Study and teaching (Secondary) – Namibia'

The study aimed to establish teacher counsellors’ views on the factors impacting the implementation of guidance and counselling services in the Ohangwena region of Namibia. The study was quantitative in nature and used a non experimental design that involved a survey. The population of the study comprised of teacher counsellors in all senior secondary schools in Ohangwena region. Data were collected using questionnaires which were administered to a sample of twenty six (26) teacher counsellors. Teacher counsellors were purposively sampled. The data was analysed by use of descriptive statistics using The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Based on the findings of this study teacher counsellors viewed inadequate training, high teaching loads and time constraints, lack of support given to teacher counsellors and lack of resources and facilities as key factors impacting the successful implementation ofschool guidance and counselling. It was thus recommended that the training of teacher counsellors in school guidance and counselling be improved, reduced workload for teacher counsellors, better resources and facilities for guidance and counselling, and for teacher counsellors to be supported in order for guidance and counselling to be successfully implemented in schools.

The teaching of Earth Sciences (ES) is particularly delicate and seems to be problematic for both learners and Moroccan teachers for multiple reasons. Based on this observation, this study aims at identifying the difficulties related to the teaching of ES by exploring the points of view of the Moroccan teachers toward this field. As an investigative tool, we used a questionnaire and semi-directive interviews with nearly 122 secondary school teachers of Life and Earth Sciences (LES). The results of our survey revealed that the major difficulties that hinder the teaching of natural sciences are mainly related to the teachers’ university studies. Most of them had training in biology as well as in the relationship that the natural sciences maintain within time and space, the limited abstraction capacity of unmotivated learners, and the inadequacy of their prerequisites in these sciences. On the other hand, they were aware of the demotivating geological knowledge taught to the learners and the lack of initial and continuous training for teachers, especially for those who specialized in natural sciences.

High school sport is one of the most popular school-based extracurricular activities in North America, situated as a developmental activity during which coaches can foster quality relationships with students to promote basic psychological needs satisfaction and teach life skills. The primary purpose of the study was to examine associations between coach–athlete relationships, basic psychological needs satisfaction and thwarting, and the teaching of life skills in Canadian high school sport. The secondary purpose consisted of addressing the psychometric properties of the scales employed in the study, namely the Coach–Athlete Relationship Questionnaire, the self-report version of the Interpersonal Behaviors Questionnaire, and a modified coach version of the Life Skills Scale for Sport. The sample was comprised of 1238 (58.8% male) Canadian high school coaches and the data were analysed using structural equation modelling. The mediated model indicated that coaches' perceptions of their interpersonal behaviours satisfying athletes' basic psychological needs either fully or partially mediated the positive relationships between coach–athlete relationships and the teaching of life skills. Coach–athlete relationships, particularly those within which coaches exhibit interpersonal behaviours that satisfy athletes' basic psychological needs, appear to be associated with the teaching of life skills in the context of high school sport.

This paper is to identify the implementation of hadith teaching and learning in secondary Islamic Education in Perak. This form of research uses quantitative methods. A total of 269 Islamic education teachers in daily secondary schools in Perak were selected as respondents using random sampling techniques. The study data were descriptively analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) to obtain frequency, percentage, mean standard deviation. The findings on the time allocation construct were at moderately high levels (mean=3.51, s.p =0.3). Meanwhile, the findings of the teaching aid Material Construct mean score of the entire item are (mean=3.75, s.p=0.15) and the teachers’ interpretation is moderately high and the construct for teacher's teaching method “kitabah” the whole item's mean score is (mean=4.65, s.p=0.23) and interpretation at a high level. In conclusion, the main findings of the study show that teachers can implement good teaching methods to influence students' achievement. Despite the provision of teaching time and ease of teaching aids needs to be improved. The implications of the study show that the parties should increase their teaching time and expose the use of teaching materials to teachers so that students can master and improve sunnah practices in everyday life as derived from hadith learning in schools.

This study aims at determining the science concepts and subjects used in the "religion courses" taught in secondary schools and the contribution of science to religion courses, which is not a widely studied topic in the relevant literature. Like qualitative research, this study is a multiple case study. The data were collected using a semi-structured interview with five Muslim religion teachers working in an eastern city of Turkey. The interview data were analyzed using the basic descriptive and content analysis methods. The findings showed that religion teachers benefit from the concepts and subjects of science in their courses; using life sciences in their religion courses had a positive impact in teaching religious subjects better to the students; the use of the concepts of life sciences in religion courses enabled students to perceive the subject better; students enjoyed the use of science concepts in religion courses and also students asked questions to their teachers about many subjects of life sciences. Religion teachers expressed that they did not feel competent enough in the life sciences. Some recommendations, such as organizing in-service training have been made for religion teachers to feel competent enough in life sciences.

Effective teaching and learning of mathematics are vital not only for examination or assessment purposes but also for empowering learners to live in a modern age of science, mathematics, and engineering and enable them to role-play to the social and economic development of the developing countries and the whole world as well. This study reveals insights of teachers and students regarding mathematics teaching and learning in Rwanda. The study was a survey designed involving 217 ordinary level secondary school students and 25 secondary school teachers who teach Mathematics, from 5 schools in Karongi District, Western Province, in Rwanda. The results analysis was confined to three components namely; preferred mathematics teaching methods, motivation to teach and learn mathematics, and the usability of mathematics in daily life. Descriptive statistics and all the statistical tables/graphs were generated using SPSS and MS Excel. As results, peer learning and group work and expository were found to be the most applied teaching methods in the selected schools. This study has underlined that not only parents but also siblings have an impact on their young brothers/sisters’ education. In terms of its utilitarian value, respondents revealed that mathematics increases critical thinking, problem-solving skills, and creativity of students. Teachers need to be more knowledgeable in the subject matter, through lesson preparations and linking mathematical concepts to real-world experiences.

This study examined the reliability and validity of the Classroom Assessment Scoring System–Secondary (CLASS-S) in Finnish classrooms. Trained observers coded classroom interactions based on video recordings of 46 Grade 6 classrooms (450 cycles). Concurrent associations were investigated with respect to teacher self-ratings (e.g., efficacy beliefs and teaching-related stress). Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the hypothesized three-factor structure of the original CLASS-S (Emotional Support, Organizational Support, and Instructional Support), with some modifications, provided a better fit for the data compared with one- and two-factor structures. Structural validity was demonstrated by mostly high factor loadings. Except for two interrater intraclass correlations, all item, scale, and interrater reliabilities were either acceptable or good. The study found some evidence for concurrent associations between the three CLASS-S factors and teacher self-ratings. The results provide evidence of the applicability of the CLASS-S instrument in educational contexts (Finland) outside the United States.

The objective of this study is to explore the role of the application of ICT tools in Mathematics teaching. Learning and conversation technologies (ICT) are an integral part of daily life, including the teaching-learning process. Mathematics is considered the queen of all sciences. For a long time, the role of mathematics was reduced to the purely academic domain. But at present, the role of mathematics is not limited to the purely academic domain. It has entered the field of technology and industry. This paper will highlight the importance of the integration of knowledge and communication technologies (ICT) into the teaching and learning of mathematics in Teacher-Training College and School level. The methodology of the research is a different type involving an interpretative, conversation, observation and study secondary sources, like books, articles, journals, thesis, university news, expert opinion, and websites, etc. Finally, meaningful suggestions are given.

The investigative approach (DI) demonstrates more and more its potential in teaching. Indeed, it enables students to develop skills, attitudes and interests, which are necessary to live in a society increasingly dependent on the applications of science. This study falls within the framework of research studies questioning the application of the investigative approach in the teaching of science in Morocco. In this work, we aim to highlight the representations of secondary school teachers about the concept of investigative approach, see whether this approach is adopted or not in the teaching of experimental sciences disciplines (Science of life and earth, Science of physics and chemistry) and determine the constraints and the obstacles to its implementation. In order to achieve these objectives, a questionnaire was drawn up and was the subject of an exploratory study among 45 teachers of experimental sciences practicing in different secondary schools in Fez city. The results of this survey reveal, firstly, that the teachers questioned seem to have confusions about the investigation process and secondly, they highlight the presence of a set of constraints and difficulties which prevent its application in the classroom.

People in Nepal speak different languages. English is taught as a compulsory subject up to bachelor level. Writing skill in compulsory English occupies 40% weight age in class XI syllabus. This research was conducted with the main purposes of analysing the writing tasks and writing serves various purposes in a person’s everyday life. Its role is vital for upgrading students and job placement. It has been prescribed in English textbooks for higher secondary level across four subject streams and finding out the English teaching learning processes in the development of writing skills. The study had been delimited to the Kathmandu Valley. The sample comprised Class XI students. Mixed methods were utilized for gathering data such as questionnaire for students, test, students’ interview, teachers’ opinionnaire, teachers’ interview and class observation. All the higher secondary schoolteachers of English of the sample schools and 25 students of four streams were the respondents. The data was analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16 and the t-test. The nature of exercises related to writing in textbooks of Class XI is almost similar, sequential and aims at developing creative writing. Science students performed the best of all on the test followed by Management, Arts and Education students. Almost all the informants expressed that writing grammatically correct sentences is of top most importance. Most of the teachers used process methodology in teaching writing. All informants interviewed expressed writing as a vital skill but it lacks separate classes.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are important educational tools; the measures taken to integrate them into the Moroccan education system are multiple. This study was conducted among 181 teachers of life and earth sciences in a large number of establishments (colleges and high schools). This paper focuses on presenting a diagnosis of the reality of the use of ICT in the teaching of the life sciences and earth in secondary school at the national level; identify teachers' perceptions of the real benefits offered by the pedagogical integration of these means in education; and determine, according to the conception of the teachers themselves, the main factors that impede or facilitate the effective and efficient integration of ICT in teaching practice. The results of this research show that there is a limited use of ICT, even though most teachers interviewed are convinced of the richness of pedagogical opportunities created by the integration of ICT in education. Thus, ICT generalization projects in the Moroccan education system should take the main constraints highlighted in this research to integrate the digital age into our schools on a more solid foundation.

This article deals with methods for teaching secondary school students about the greenhouse effect. The research question is addressed in a didactic context using ICT. Our experiment used a pre-test and post-test methodology, in which we compared the learning outcomes of two groups of students: experimental group (EG) and control group (CG). Both groups followed the same teaching on the greenhouse effect during a Life and Earth Sciences (LES) class. Our study involved introduction of the following differentiation for the two groups of students: CG received explanations, accompanied by a theoretical presentation of the experiment to demonstrate the greenhouse effect. The students were then presented with the theoretical results. EG used a computer simulation of the same experiment on the greenhouse effect and interpreted the results. At post-test, the experimental group (EG) demonstrated a better understanding of the mechanisms of the greenhouse effect than the control group (CG), and scored better on questions related to infrared radiation as a result of global warming. This has been confirmed by a statistical test of homogeneity. However, on the other questions about the nature and consequences of the greenhouse effect, including on behavior advocated for the protection of the environment, we found no significant differences. Moreover, the students in both groups only proposed actions in response to the consequences of human activity and did not propose actions to respond to the consequences of natural origin. We therefore conclude that computer simulation of the greenhouse effect experiment, accompanied by further scientific interpretation, constitutes a "good didactic situation" to instill a more global understanding of the greenhouse effect.

The aim of this work is to promote the proximity of the students of the Master’s Degree in Secondary teaching staff of the University of Córdoba with respect to the concept of heritage and the implementation of didactic itineraries in their university training. For our proposal, an interactive teaching-learning is established that gives the possibility to the students to work in an investigative way the exits of the classroom. The study sample is made up of 107 students of the subject Learning and teaching the corresponding subjects in Social Sciences: Geography and History. According to the results of the pre-test and the post-test, the understanding of the geographical space, its historical formation process, and the ways of life developed in it, have been very useful to link the students of the MAES with their immediate environment and also contribute to the understanding of the historical dynamics that shape it.

The spread of COVID-19 has had a significant impact on many parts of life, including education. Instructors, students, and institutions across the world were forced to close their doors and shift to online distance learning in accordance with the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation for social distancing. This study aims to explore the experience (challenges and benefits) of Saudi postgraduate students in the field of special education relating to the sudden shift to online distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. An embedded mixed methods design with a great emphasis placed on the qualitative strand, while the quantitative strand took a secondary role. Online learning readiness was assessed using a scale with (n=37) postgraduate students, then interviews were conducted with (n=9) postgraduate students. Postgraduate students in the Kingdom Saudi Arabia were found to have a high level of readiness and were highly confident and highly motivated for online learning during the pandemic. The most frequently mentioned challenges found in this study included technical difficulties. It was also found that despite the challenges faced by the students, they still preferred virtual classes over traditional face-to-face lectures, as they are flexible and convenient. Study results lead to a better understanding of postgraduate students’ adaptation to online learning in emergency situations. Additional improvements including refining the difficulties, strengthening the current advantages, and listening to students’ experiences and suggestions would lead to more successful remote teaching in the future. Received: 12 July 2021 / Accepted: 20 August 2021 / Published: 5 September 2021

Among the main obstacles to the literacy of the Earth System Sciences, the content organization in official curricula stands out. The knowledge of this science has been shown as fundamental for the formation of citizens who know how to use natural resources regarding environmental questions and life itself. Faced with such issues, the present study has done a documentary analysis of the Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais para o Ensino Médio (PCNEM in Portuguese, or National Curriculum Parameters of Secondary Education) and of the Currículo do Estado de São Paulo (CESP in Portuguese, or School Curriculum of the State of São Paulo), with aim at suggesting effective teaching alternatives for citizens formation. Both the PCNEM and the CESP present contents in a fragmented way through traditional disciplines, such as has been the educational structure in Brazil for decades. The PCNEM suggest an interdisciplinary approach of these contents, while the CESP do not mention this type of approach, but relates skills to be developed to each type of content, and so presents interdisciplinary teaching as valuable. As an alternative to this pedagogical structure, it is proposed that the contents encompassed in the Earth System Science should be treated in an interdisciplinary context, allowing the integrated development of contents and contributing to the teacher’s work.

One of the challenges facing Kenya in the teaching of Physics in secondary schools is how to make learners acquire knowledge, build up capacity for critical thinking in solving problems in any situation and make an effort to enable them understand the application of content in real life situations and careers. Based on this challenge, the present study was designed to determine the effect of investigative science process skill teaching strategy on students’ achievement in Physics. The study was guided by the following objectives: To determine students’ achievement in school physics when using Investigative Science Process Skill (ISPS) teaching strategy. Theoretical framework of the study was based on constructivist theories of learning. Quasi- Experimental design was used. The research was carried out in eight schools in Embu County. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select participating schools, then simple random sampling was used to select and assign participating schools in experimental and control group. The sample was form three students. Research instrument used was: Physics Achievement Test (PAT) on the topic of Electricity (II). The research instrument was pilot-tested for validity and reliability. The reliability coefficient was calculated using Kunder-Richardson (KR-Formula20). A coefficient value of 0.768 was considered suitable for reliability of the instrument. Data was analysed using the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and chi-square and t-test. Hypotheses was tested at alpha (?) value of 0 .05 level of significance using a computer Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) for Windows. The findings of the study demonstrated that ISPS enhanced academic achievement in learning. It is hoped that the results of the study provide useful information to Physics teachers, curriculum developers, Quality Assurance and Standards Officer (QASO) and teacher-trainers.

Contextual teaching and learning is a learning concept that can help teachers link the material taught with real-world situations and encourage students to make connections between their knowledge and application in life. Basically, contextual teaching and learning is a concept that aims to equip students with knowledge that can be applied flexibly from a problem or from another context so that students' understanding is expected through experience, not just memorizing a material. The research method used is qualitative research with primary and secondary sources, data collection techniques in research by means of observation methods, interview methods and documentation methods. Data analysis was carried out using qualitative data analysis. The results of this study show how the application of the contextual teaching and learning learning model in increasing interest in learning is to develop the idea that students will learn more interestingly when students learn in their own way and find ideas by constructing their own new knowledge and skills. create a learning society. The positive impact of implementing the contextual teaching and learning learning model in increasing interest in learning is that it can develop students' abilities in solving problems, can develop critical, logical and analytical thinking skills and the negative impact of implementing the contextual teaching and learning learning model is the lack of ability to reason

Mentors rarely receive education about the unique needs of underrepresented scholars in the biomedical and behavioral sciences. We hypothesized that mentor-training and peer-mentoring interventions for these scholars would enrich the perceived quality and breadth of discussions between mentor–protégé dyads (i.e., mentor–protégé pairs). Our multicenter, randomized study of 150 underrepresented scholar–mentor dyads compared: 1) mentor training, 2) protégé peer mentoring, 3) combined mentor training and peer mentoring, and 4) a control condition (i.e., usual practice of mentoring). In this secondary analysis, the outcome variables were quality of dyad time and breadth of their discussions. Protégé participants were graduate students, fellows, and junior faculty in behavioral and biomedical research and healthcare. Dyads with mentor training were more likely than those without mentor training to have discussed teaching and work–life balance. Dyads with peer mentoring were more likely than those without peer mentoring to have discussed clinical care and career plans. The combined intervention dyads were more likely than controls to perceive that the quality of their time together was good/excellent. Our study supports the value of these mentoring interventions to enhance the breadth of dyad discussions and quality of time together, both important components of a good mentoring relationship.

The present study attempts to identify the difficulties of teaching and learning geology in Moroccan secondary qualifying classes. Teachers of the Life Sciences and Earth Sciences and their pupils at the Inzegane Ait Melloul delegation were administered questionnaires. Based on the analysis of the themes taught and the typologies of obstacles evoked, a bibliographic synthesis allowed us to list the notions which are likely to pose the difficulties presumed in geology. Thus, 23 open and closed questions were distributed to seven teachers. Also, ten questions were distributed to students. The results showed that both pupils and teachers experience several difficulties in the teaching and learning of geology. Thus, the various means of continuing education in geology which are made available to teachers were disqualified. It involves only a minority of them. This is in addition to the complexity of the geological content and the insufficiency of its hourly volume. The excessive number of pupils causes the classes to be overloaded, in which the weak prerequisite is added in the geology of these pupils. The difficulties of learning geology are largely related to the relationship that this discipline maintains with space and long time. This, therefore, make it difficult for pupils to understand several complex geological phenomena. The ineffectiveness of teaching methods tailored to the classroom by teachers, the absence, failure or lack of mobilization of teaching and ICT resources, inadequacy or absence of field trips, and the manipulations and negligence of scientific modeling in majority of the classes surveyed influences the learning of geology as well as the students' interest in these courses. This makes it a boring and unwelcome matter for most students.

Background: Infertility couple affects the couple's life, work, health, personality, identity and quality of life. The aim of the study is to determine the attitude and acceptability of assisted reproductive technology among women at the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto.Methods: This is a cross-sectional study that involved three 350 women attending infertility clinic. They were recruited via convenient sampling method using semi-structured questionnaire. The data obtained was managed using the statistical package for social sciences version 20. A p value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant and the result obtained was presented in charts and tables.Results: Among the 350 women recruited, their ages ranged between 14-58 years with a modal age of 25-35 yeas (58.0%) and a mean of 28.59±6.7. They are mostly (78.6%), of the Hausa/Fulani ethnic group. Almost all (98.9%) of them were married and unto 40.5% of them were in polygamous marriage. Majority, 36.9% had tertiary education, and about same proportion, about half, 51.7%% were gainfully employed. About 60.3% of them were nulliparae with a mean duration of infertility of 5.07±4.8 years. Approximately half, 53.1% had secondary infertility and only about half, 51.4% will accept ART if offered. Unfortunately, among those who declined, majority (40.9%) had no reason for doing so. There was statistically significant association between educational status and acceptance of assisted reproductive technology (ART) at p value 0.02.Conclusions: The acceptance of ART in our environment is influenced by the educational status and number of living children.

The reforming of school natural science education is part of the process aimed at updating educational systems, which has a general European tendency. The content orientation of the field representing natural sciences of general secondary education towards the formation of core competences and effective mechanisms of their introduction causes intensive changes in the training process intended for the future science teachers of the new formation. The component of natural education is biological education which is realized by studying Biology as a school course. Since natural knowledge in the process of external interaction purposefully influence the formation of schoolchildren’s natural outlook, this is the social order that determines the content of biological education and the potential within the education of a certain type of personality. Therefore, the new formats of biological education in the context of the New Ukrainian School are aimed at forming schoolchildren’s motivation for educational and cognitive activities, life competencies, and an active life position. The driving force facilitating the realization of innovations in biological education is a competent teacher as a subject of an innovative educational activity. In this case, the priority way in the professional training of future science teachers is the shift of emphasis from the amount of knowledge to the development of pedagogical interaction skills. This is the ability of the future specialist to work in a team, to negotiate, to make prudent decisions that makes him / her competitive. The basic condition for such an activity is the professional potential of the future teacher which manifests itself in his / her readiness for creative interaction with schoolchildren. The transfer of the study of Biology into the plane of the competence-based educational environment focuses educators’ attention on the person-centred approach to learning. The relationship between the teacher and the schoolchildren should be collaborative, in the course of which schoolchildren become not only the objects of influence, but also become participants of a joint activity. According to these approaches to teaching Biology, the interaction of the subjects of the educational process acquires organized forms of cooperation, the specific characteristic of which is the complementarity of the schoolchild and the teacher. The obviousness of the dialogical educational interaction contributes to the introduction of the elements of teachers’ / students’ creativity into the pedagogical process and motivates them to intellectual growth. Subjectivity as a paradigmatic feature of biology education lies in the pedagogical position of the teacher, since it is profession-oriented and determines the personalization of pedagogical interaction. Therefore, the subjective factor of the pedagogical activity of future teachers of natural sciences becomes a kind of trajectory of self-development and self-affirmation. Keywords: subject, competence-oriented teacher, pedagogical interaction, person-oriented environment, pedagogical communication.

Objectives: The introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy and innovations in healthcare has contributed in improving the lives of persons living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/AID. Patients infected with HIV are more susceptible to develop psychiatric illnesses. Depression is common among patients suffering from chronic illness such as HIV/AIDS and can exacerbate these illnesses. Depression has been observed to be twice as common in HIV seropositive individuals than in the general population. Undiagnosed and untreated depression in patients suffering from HIV/AIDS could lead to poor adherence to medications and lower quality of life. Depression is associated with rapid HIV disease progression. The diagnosis of HIV infection may be associated with feelings of anger, denial, sadness, guilt feelings, loss of self-esteem among others. These negative feelings could lead to suicidal ideation and attempted suicide or suicide. We sought to determine the prevalence rates, sociodemographics and predictors, of depression and suicidal ideation among study participants. Material and methods: Two hundred and two adult participants who met the inclusion criteria were recruited into the study. Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview English version 6.0.0 was employed to diagnose depression and suicidal ideation. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 20.0. Significant levels were set at P < 0.05. Results: This study revealed prevalence rates of 11.4% for depression and 7.9% for suicidal ideation among study participants. Majority of the participants were females in the young age group category of 30–40 years (45%) with mostly secondary education (47.8%), most had a higher CD4 count greater than 200 cells/µL (82.6%) and were mainly on zidovudine/lamivudine/nevirapine combination therapy (56.5%). Mean age, CD4 count, and viral load levels were lower in HIV patients with depression but were not statistically significant (P > 0.05). CD4 count and viral load were not significantly associated with suicidal ideation. Lower age (30–40 years) was significantly associated with suicidal ideation (P < 0.05). Suicidal ideation is a predictor of depression in the same way depression is a predictor of suicidal ideation (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Routine screening for depression and suicidal ideation especially among younger HIV/AIDS patients is recommended in the clinic setting.

Resumen: El área de ciencias naturales debe ser abordada desde una perspectiva elemental para el estudiante, ya que la misma tiene como objetivo el estudio de la naturaleza, a través del uso del método científico, específicamente el método experimental, utilizando como base el razonamiento lógico y el cálculo aritmético. Por lo tanto, el estudiante durante su estudio debe desarrollar competencias científicas para construir un aprendizaje significativo que le servirán en su vida diaria. En el presente artículo, su autora presenta diversas alternativas para fortalecer tales competencias estudiantiles, producto de un análisis situacional con aplicación de la investigación científica la cual se encuentra en proceso, para que las mismas sean aportes a la enseñanza de las ciencias naturales, en este caso de la física para el nivel de educación media técnica en Colombia.Palabras clave Competencias Científicas, Física, Estudiantes.Abstract: The area of natural sciences should be approached from an elementary perspective for the student, since it aims at the study of nature, through the use of the scientific method, specifically the experimental method, using as a basis the logical reasoning and the arithmetic calculation Therefore, the student during his study, must develop scientific skills to build meaningful learning that will serve him in his daily life. In the present article, the author presents various alternatives to strengthen such student competencies, product of a situation analysis with application of scientific research which is in process, so that they are contributions to the teaching of natural sciences, in this case of physics for the level of secondary education in ColombiaKeywords Scientific Competences, Physics, Students.

Aim/Purpose: This research aimed to measure the effectiveness of using thinking maps through the Edmodo network to develop achievement and mathematical connections skills among middle school students. Background: One of the most important and major problems in education is reduced levels of academic achievement among students generally and in mathematics specifically. This is having a negative impact on academic outcomes. As mentioned in statement of the problem, several studies have identified weaknesses in academic achievement in mathematics. The results and recommendations of previous studies have referred to the effectiveness of thinking maps in developing numerous variables. Previous studies have identified weaknesses in mathematical connections skills. No Arabic studies have addressed the effectiveness of thinking maps through the Edmodo network in developing achievement and mathematical connections skills among middle school students. Methodology: The participants were a purposive sample of 102 second-year middle school students. These were divided into two groups: experimental (n = 49) and control (n = 53). To achieve the research objectives, the experimental approach in its quasi-experimental design was adopted with (pre-post) measurement for both groups. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Contribution: This study added information to the literature on the effectiveness of the thinking maps strategy through the Edmodo network in developing achievement and mathematical connections skills. Devising a modern teaching strategy to help students solve mathematical problems and thus can be generalized to various fields of life. This also the first study on this subject in Saudi Arabia. Findings: The results showed there was a significant difference between the mean post-test scores of the experimental and control groups on the achievement test in favor of the experimental group. Additionally, there was a significant difference between the mean post-test scores of the experimental and control groups on the mathematical connections skills test in favor of the experimental group. There was also a positive correlation between the development of achievement and mathematical connections skills among middle school students who used thinking maps through the Edmodo network. Recommendations for Practitioners: At a practice level, holding courses and training workshops for middle school mathematics teachers that include training on how to use modern learning models enhanced with technology, including the thinking Maps strategy, in the mathematics curriculum. Preparing guidelines for middle school mathematics teachers on how to use Thinking Maps via the Edmodo Network and how to train students in its use. Recommendation for Researchers: Further research is needed to study the Effectiveness of the Thinking Maps strategy via the Edmodo network on developing achievement and mathematical connections skills in other subjects and at different educational stages. Impact on Society: Our findings encourage teachers and educational supervisors to adopt the use of thinking maps on learning platforms for mathematics teaching as an effective method for developing achievement and mathematical connections skills. Benefiting from the applications and experiences of developed countries who have used e-learning in teaching curricula in order to keep pace with contemporary developments. Future Research: Future studies could be extended to identify the effectiveness of maps of strategic thinking across Edmodo network variables within other subsidiaries, such as mathematical communication, creative thinking, mathematical proof, mind habits, and so on. Assess the effectiveness of play-based learning strategies via the Edmodo network in developing achievement and mathematical connection skills. Conduct a study that measures teachers’ and students’ attitudes toward using the Thinking Maps strategy via the Edmodo network. Assessing the effectiveness of using the Thinking Maps strategy via an Edmodo network in achieving and developing creative skills among secondary school students.

<p>The article analyzes the possibility of differentiated study natural science at school on the basis of ecological educational process. Natural science is the science about nature as a single unity or totality of the natural sciences, which constituting a single unit. The main aim of the course is to develop student’s natural science competence through integrated mastering system knowledge about nature and man, the basics of environmental knowledge, ways of improving teaching and learning activities, development of value orientations in relation to the nature.</p> <p>There is strong need to review approaches to teaching nature science at schools, taking into account the general trend of greening of the educational process. The aim of the work is to analyze the possibility of practical application of modern approaches to differentiated teaching of the nature science at school greening within the educational process. In our view, the environmental component may be a basis to the formation and differentiated teaching in general. The environmental component of the educational sector has been aimed to the student’s environmental consciousness and compliance with rules of environmentally safe behavior in the environment. The learning of the integrated knowledge about nature and man can be submitted through the prism of action of the environmental factors according classic approach to their classification: abiotic, biotic and anthropogenic factors. In parallel, it is reasonable to raise the issues of practical importance as some natural objects and actions of each of these factors.</p> <p>The new degree of the studying of the environment has been provided by the beginning of the systematization of knowledge about natural objects and structure of the universe, by the formation of primary concepts about the relationship between the world of the living and inanimate nature, between organisms and between human activities and changes that has been occurred in the environment.</p> <p>In our view, the special attention is the possibility of attracting differentiated approach to the planning and implementation of educational process. On the primary level the special efficiency has been acquired to the special observation of natural phenomena and the effects of individual factors: the studying of plants in the office and preschool area, the animals at the zoo corner etc. The problem of developing abilities to the using of knowledge while making appropriate tasks has been required a differentiated approach, not only for their content but also the method of teaching their decision according to their level of difficulty. The tasks due to its orientation may include: forming general ideas about modern environmental picture; understanding of the relationship of living and inanimate in nature; formation of ideas that man is a part of nature.</p> <p>Environmental tasks allow students to summarize information about the specifics of the organization and functioning of natural and anthropogenic ecosystems, the influence of various factors on them. The result should be the ability to classify the phenomenon, the ability to distinguish the important from the secondary, the ability to provide scientific evaluation of phenomena, argue and prove their point of view. The highest level of using of the differentiated approach could be considered the using of design technologies that can ensure the formation of interdisciplinary connections and the pupil’s integrative learning about nature. One can subsequently supposed to pay attention to the studying of design technologies and their importance for the studying of nature science.</p> <p><em>Keywords: science, life competencies, differentiation of the educational process, greening, world view.</em></p>

Artikkelen tar utgangspunkt i at bærekraftig utvikling er vedtatt som tverrfaglig tema i norsk skole (grunnopplæringen) og i de femårige grunnskolelærer-utdanningene. Som lærerutdannere og skoleforskere tilknyttet forskergruppen Nature in Children’s Literature and Culture, ved Høgskulen på Vestlandet (HVL), er vi opptatt av miljødebatten og oppfatninger av natur i planverkene for de femårige grunnskolelærerutdanningene i fagene kroppsøving og mat og helse. De nasjonale studieplanene for 2017–18 og emneplaner fra fem UH-institusjoner utgjør vårt empiriske materiale. Vi har identifisert ord og begrep om miljødebatten og natur med analyseverktøyet NVivo. Funnene viser at ordene klima, menneske, naturen, ressurs og ute er lite brukt i planene, men selve meningskonteksten ordene står i kan tolkes som en noe menneskesentrert måte å forstå naturen på, et antroposentrisk syn. Ordene bærekraft og friluftsliv forekommer flere ganger i planene og representerer både et antroposentrisk syn og en mer økosentrisk, helhetlig måte å tenke liv og omverden på. Vi diskuterer våre funn opp mot The Nature in Culture Matrix. Drøftingene konkluderer med at det er behov for forskning som også studerer ulike undervisningspraksiser og lærerutdanneres, praksislæreres og studenters egne erfaringer med utdanningene sett fra et miljøperspektiv. Vårt mål er at artikkelen kan bidra i en bevisstgjøring og refleksjon omkring hvordan man kan legge opp til mer økokritisk undervisning i fagene kroppsøving og mat og helse i norsk lærerutdanning.Nøkkelord: grunnskolelærerutdanninger, kroppsøving, mat og helse, natur, bærekraftig utvikling, miljødimensjonenConcepts of Nature in the Physical Education and Food and Health Curricula in the Five-year Teacher Education ProgrammesAbstractThis article takes as its starting point the decision that sustainable development is to be an interdisciplinary theme in Norwegian primary and secondary education and in the five-year teacher education programmes. As teacher educators and education researchers in the research group Nature in Children’s Literature and Culture, at the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, we are concerned about the environment debate and how nature is perceived in the plans for teacher education in two subject areas: Physical Education, and Food and Health. Our empirical material consists of the national study plans for 2017–18 and the course plans from five tertiary institutions. We have identified words and phrases related to the environmental dimension and nature using the analytical tool NVivo. The findings show that the words climate, people, nature, resource and outdoors are seldom used in these plans. Moreover, the contexts in which these words are used can be interpreted as indicating a human-centred view of nature, an anthropocentric view. The words sustainable and outdoor recreation (friluftsliv) occur numerous times in the plans, and represent both an anthropocentric view of nature and an ecocentric perspective, a more holistic way of thinking of life and the environment. We discuss our findings in relation to the Nature in Culture Matrix. The discussion concludes that there is a need for more research focusing on various teaching practices and on the experiences of teacher trainers, practice teachers and students in these subject areas, viewed from an environmental perspective. The objective of the article is to contribute to awareness raising and encourage reflection regarding strategies for more ecocritical teaching in the subjects Physical Education and Food and Health in Norwegian teacher education.Keywords: teacher education, physical education, food and health, nature, sustainable development, environment

Religious tolerance is a supporter of social harmony and brings a country to a better life. Instilling tolerance in early childhood is a challenge for early childhood educators. This study aims to describe the transformation of religious tolerance values ​​by teachers in early childhood education. This research is a type of qualitative case study research model with researchers as observer participants. This research produces the following findings, that (1) transformation of tolerance values ​​among religious communities, is explicitly not taught in Early Childhood Education (ECE) on the grounds that all students are of the same religion, (2) transformation of tolerance of values among religious students taught through learning integrated with other lessons, (3) although explicitly the values ​​of tolerance among religious students are not taught, but the values ​​of togetherness such as greeting, sharing something that is owned, and helping the needs of other students are taught by practicing at the same time. Keywords: Early Childhood Education, Tolerance Values in Religion References: Adams, K. (2019). Navigating the spaces of children’s spiritual experiences: influences of tradition(s), multidisciplinarity and perceptions. International Journal of Children’s Spirituality, 24(1), 29–43. https://doi.org/10.1080/1364436X.2019.1619531 Adams, K., Bull, R., & Maynes, M. L. (2016). 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The spiritual potential of childhood: Awakening to the fullness of life. International Journal of Children’s Spirituality, 18(1), 4–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/1364436X.2013.776266 Kirschenbaum, H. (2019). Models of Values Education and Moral Education in the Era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. 8(2), 103–109. Lehtonen, M. (2019). The Development of Religious Tolerance: Co-operative Board Games with Children and Adolescents. IATL Reinvention: An International Journal of Undergraduate Research, 2(2). Retrieved from https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/iatl/reinvention/ Łowicki, P., & Zajenkowski, M. (2019). Empathy and Exposure to Credible Religious Acts during Childhood Independently Predict Religiosity. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 00(00), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508619.2019.1672486 Maussen, M., Bader, V., Dobbernack, J., Modood, T., Olsen, T. V., Fox, J., & Vidra, Z. (2012). Tolerance and cultural diversity in schools Comparative report. Amsterdam. Miedema, S., & Bertram-Troost, G. (2008). Democratic citizenship and religious education: Challenges and perspectives for schools in the Netherlands. British Journal of Religious Education, 30(2), 123–132. https://doi.org/10.1080/01416200701830970 Moore, D. . (2007). Overcoming Religious Illiteracy: A Cultural Studies Approach to the Study of Religion in Secondary Education. US: Palgrave Macmillan. Niculescu, R. M., & Norel, M. (2013). Religious Education an Important Dimension of Human’s Education. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 93, 338–342. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.09.200 Pandya, S. P. (2019). Spiritual education programme (SEP) for enhancing the quality of life of kindergarten school children. Pastoral Care in Education, 37(1), 59–72. https://doi.org/10.1080/02643944.2018.1562493 Parekh, B. (2019). Ethnocentric Political Theory. Ethnocentric Political Theory, 263–284. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11708-5 Sari, A. D. P., & Indartono, S. (2019). Teaching Religious Tolerance Through Social Studies Education Based On Multicultural Approach. 323(ICoSSCE 2018), 214–219. https://doi.org/10.2991/icossce-icsmc-18.2019.40 Scheiner, P. (2015). Crossings and Crosses: Borders, Educations, and Religions in Northern Europe. Boston/Berlin: Walter de Gruyter Inc. Scott, K. (2014). Inviting young adults to come out religiously, institutionally and traditionally. Religious Education, 109(4), 471–484. https://doi.org/10.1080/00344087.2014.924790 Stockinger, H. (2019). Developing spirituality–an equal right of every child? International Journal of Children’s Spirituality, 24(3), 307–319. https://doi.org/10.1080/1364436X.2019.1646218 Thibodeau, R. B., Brown, M. M., Nancarrow, A. F., Elpers, K. E., & Gilpin, A. T. (2018). Conceptual Similarities among Fantasy and Religious Orientations: A Developmental Perspective. Journal of Cognition and Culture, 18(1–2), 31–46. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685373-12340021 Tratner, A. E., Sela, Y., Lopes, G. S., Ehrke, A. D., Weekes-Shackelford, V. A., & Shackelford, T. K. (2017). Individual differences in childhood religious experiences with peers. Personality and Individual Differences, 119, 73–77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2017.06.045 UNESCO. (2015). Second UNESCO Forum on Global Citizenship Education: Building Peaceful and Sustainable Societies (Paris, 28-30 January 2015). Final Report. (January), 1–22. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/ED/pdf/FinalReport-GCED_21April.pdf Uzefovsky, F., Döring, A. K., & Knafo-Noam, A. (2016). Values in Middle Childhood: Social and Genetic Contributions. Social Development, 25(3), 482–502. https://doi.org/10.1111/sode.12155 Van Der Walt, J. L. (2014). Towards an instrument for measuring religious tolerance among educators and their students worldwide (Potchefstroom Campus-North-West University). 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A Review of: Julien, Heidi and Cameron Hoffman. “Information Literacy Training in Canada’s Public Libraries.” Library Quarterly 78.1 (2008): 19-41. Objective – To examine the role of Canada’s public libraries in information literacy skills training, and to ascertain the perspectives of public library Internet users with regard to their experiences of information literacy. Design – Qualitative research using semi-structured interviews and observations. Setting – Five public libraries in Canada. Subjects – Twenty-eight public library staff members and twenty-five customers. Methods – This study constituted the second phase of a detailed examination of information literacy (IL) training in Canadian public libraries. Five public libraries located throughout Canada were selected for participation. These comprised a large central branch of a public library located in a town with a population of approximately two million, a main branch of a public library in an urban city of about one million people, a public library in a town with a population of about 75,000, a library in a town of 900 people and a public library located in the community center of a Canadian First Nations reserve that housed a population of less than 100 persons. After notifying customers via signage posted in the vicinity of computers and Internet access areas, the researchers observed each patron as they accessed the Internet via library computers. Observations focused on the general physical environment of the Internet access stations, customer activities and use of the Internet, as well as the nature and degree of customer interactions with each other and with staff. Photographs were also taken and observations were recorded via field notes. The former were analyzed via qualitative content analysis while quantitative analysis was applied to the observations. Additionally, each observed participant was interviewed immediately following Internet use. Interview questions focused on a range of issues including the reasons why customers used the Internet in public libraries, customers’ perceptions about their level of information literacy and their feelings with regard to being information literate, the nature of their exposure to IL training, the benefits they derived from such training, and their desire for further training. Public service librarians and other staff were also interviewed in a similar manner. These questions sought to ascertain staff views on the role of the public library with regard to IL training; perceptions of the need for and expected outcomes of such training; as well as the current situation pertinent to the provision of IL skills training in their respective libraries in terms of staff competencies, resource allocation, and the forms of training and evaluation. Interviews were recorded and transcribed. Data were interpreted via qualitative content analysis through the use of NVivo software. Main Results – Men were more frequent users of public library computers than women, outnumbering them by a ratio ranging from 2:1 to 3.4:1. Customers appeared to be mostly under the age of 30 and of diverse ethnicities. The average income of interviewed customers was less than the Canadian average. The site observations revealed that customers were seen using the Internet mainly for the purposes of communication (e.g., e-mail, instant messaging, online dating services). Such use was observed 78 times in four of the libraries. Entertainment accounted for 43 observations in all five sites and comprised activities such as online games, music videos, and movie listings. Twenty-eight observations involved business/financial uses (e.g., online shopping, exploration of investment sites, online banking). The use of search engines (25 observations), news information (23), foreign language and forum websites (21), and word processing were less frequently observed. Notably, there were only 20 observed library-specific uses (e.g., searching online catalogues, online database and library websites). Customers reported that they used the Internet mainly for general web searching and for e-mail. It was also observed that in general the physical environment was not conducive to computer use due to uncomfortable or absent seating and a lack of privacy. Additionally, only two sites had areas specifically designated for IL instruction. Of the 25 respondents, 19 reported at least five years experience with the Internet, 9 of whom cited experience of 10 years or more. Self-reported confidence with the Internet was high: 16 individuals claimed to be very confident, 7 somewhat confident, and only 2 lacking in confidence. There was a weak positive correlation between years of use and individuals’ reported levels of confidence. Customers reported interest in improving computer literacy (e.g., keyboarding ability) and IL skills (ability to use more sources of information). Some expressed a desire “to improve certain personal attitudes” (30), such as patience when conducting Internet searches. When presented with the Association of College and Research Libraries’ definition of IL, 13 (52%) of those interviewed claimed to be information literate, 8 were ambivalent, and 4 admitted to being information illiterate. Those who professed to be information literate had no particular feeling about this state of being, however 10 interviewees admitted feeling positive about being able to use the Internet to retrieve information. Most of those interviewed (15) disagreed that a paucity of IL skills is a deterrent to “accessing online information efficiently and effectively” (30). Eleven reported development of information skills through self teaching, while 8 cited secondary schools or tertiary educational institutions. However, such training was more in terms of computer technology education than IL. Eleven of the participants expressed a desire for additional IL training, 5 of whom indicated a preference for the public library to supply such training. Customers identified face-to-face, rather than online, as the ideal training format. Four interviewees identified time as the main barrier to Internet use and online access. As regards library staff, 22 (78.6%) of those interviewed posited IL training as an important role for public libraries. Many stated that customers had been asking for formal IL sessions with interest in training related to use of the catalogue, databases, and productivity software, as well as searching the web. Two roles were identified in the context of the public librarian as a provider of IL: “library staff as teachers/agents of empowerment and library staff as ‘public parents’” (32). The former was defined as supporting independent, lifelong learning through the provision of IL skills, and the latter encompassing assistance, guidance, problem solving, and filtering of unsuitable content. Staff identified challenges to IL training as societal challenges (e.g., need for customers to be able to evaluate information provided by the media, the public library’s role in reducing the digital divide), institutional (e.g., marketing of IL programs, staff constraints, lack of budget for IL training), infrastructural (e.g., limited space, poor Internet access in library buildings) and pedagogical challenges, such as differing views pertinent to the philosophy of IL, as well as the low levels of IL training to which Canadian students at all levels had been previously exposed. Despite these challenges library staff acknowledged positive outcomes resulting from IL training in terms of customers achieving a higher level of computer literacy, becoming more skillful at searching, and being able to use a variety of information sources. Affective benefits were also apparent such as increased independence and willingness to learn. Library staff also identified life expanding outcomes, such as the use of IL skills to procure employment. In contrast to customer self-perception, library staff expressed that customers’ IL skills were low, and that this resulted in their avoidance of “higher-level online research” and the inability to “determine appropriate information sources” (36). Several librarians highlighted customers’ incapacity to perform simple activities such as opening an email account. Library staff also alluded to customer’s reluctance to ask them for help. Libraries in the study offered a wide range of training. All provided informal, personalized training as needed. Formal IL sessions on searching the catalogue, online searching, and basic computer skills were conducted by the three bigger libraries. A mix of librarians and paraprofessional staff provided the training in these libraries. However, due to a lack of professional staff, the two smaller libraries offered periodic workshops facilitated by regional librarians. All the libraries lacked a defined training budget. Nonetheless, the largest urban library was well-positioned to offer IL training as it had a training coordinator, a training of trainers program, as well as technologically-equipped training spaces. The other libraries in this study provided no training of trainers programs and varied in terms of the adequacy of spaces allocated for the purpose of training. The libraries also varied in terms of the importance placed on the evaluation of IL training. At the largest library evaluation forms were used to improve training initiatives, while at the small town library “evaluations were done anecdotally” (38). Conclusion – While Internet access is available and utilized by a wide cross section of the population, IL skills are being developed informally and not through formal training offered by public libraries. Canadian public libraries need to work to improve information literacy skills by offering and promoting formal IL training programs.

One of the main challenges facing our societies is the management of environmental problems. Education and training are essential motors for raising awareness of sustainable development. Morocco has always experienced reforms in its education system, the most striking of which have been introduced recently. The curricula were analyzed in such a way as to have introduced changes in the curricula such as the integration of new teaching themes, among others subjects relating to environmental problems. With regard to teaching methods, the supervisory ministry adopted the skills-based approach after the establishment of the national education and training charter. The present study conducted in 2016 aims to assess the various tools deployed by the Moroccan school, particularly in life and earth sciences in the secondary cycle in order to sensitize young learners to environmental problems. For this we have analyzed the curriculum and textbooks extensively and then we have carried out a survey in ten secondary schools in order to check the availability and suitability of teaching materials. The results showed that the presence of content aimed at developing specific skills linked to the environment is still insufficient in this sense. Indeed, we noted not only a gap affecting the quantitative aspect of the environmental subject but also the qualitative aspect. Furthermore, we noted a dominance of the informative style which presumes a weak involvement of the learner in the construction of knowledge. Added to this is the problem of almost absent teaching materials.

The present study has been compiled in order to analyze the content of the textbooks of Religion and Life in lower secondary school for attention to the formation of the Iranian Muslim Woman Pattern. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the content of religion and life textbooks in the lower secondary school on explaining the characteristics of the Iranian Muslim Woman Pattern for female students. To achieve this goal, content of this books analysis with William Romey method and then data gathered with researcher-made questionnaire and analyzed the results with using SPSS24 statistical software. The statistical sample of the study includes 306 female students and 19 teachers of religion and life lesson in lower secondary school in 9th district of Tehran who were studying and teaching in public schools. Findings indicate that there is a significant difference in the views of students and teachers regarding the content of this books. In such a way that the students had a more favorable view of the content of this books in reaching the pattern of the Iranian Muslim Woman, while from the teachers' point of view, the content of this books does not help us enough to reach the pattern of the Iranian Muslim Woman. The results of the quantitative analysis by the researchers indicate that the content of three books of religion and life in lower secondary school is primarily in the category of “monotheism and theism”, “religious ethics”, “rules” and then “women, family and society”. And the content of the books is lacking in terms of guiding students to reach the pattern of Iranian Muslim Women.

A positive attitude in teachers and learners can create a life-long interest in plants. Worldwide, Botany is seen as an unpopular subject and studies in the United States of America and elsewhere have shown that learners find the subject boring. Plant blindness, soöcentrism and soöchauvinism are widely blamed for this situation. In this study, the status of Botany in secondary schools in Tshwane, Gauteng, was investigated, using interviews with teachers and learner questionnaires. Life sciences teachers are positive about their subject, but some of the participants revealed negative attitudes towards the Botany content. The teachers agreed that the learners, with a few exceptions, did not like plant studies and this finding was confirmed by the questionnaires that were completed by the learners. A number of challenges, increasing the difficulties of teaching Botany were identified. Krathwohl, Bloom and Masia’s classification of the affective domain and the holistic approach to Life Sciences education were employed to provide perspective to the findings.

The study analyzed the relationships of approaches to happiness and job satisfaction to job performance. This research endeavors to educate and inspire public academic institutions to focus on the happiness and job satisfaction of its teaching staff and see if it will bring out high job performance rate. A sample of two hundred and eighty-three (283) public secondary school teachers was taken from selected schools in the division of Cavite calculated based on Cochran’s formula and using simple random sampling technique. The researchers used descriptive statistics such as frequency distribution and weighted mean to present the data. Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient r and multiple linear regression (MLR) model were used to determine the association and test statistical significance between all studied parameters. Data analysis was done using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The findings of this study indicated that the extent of correlation between the approaches to happiness and job performance and between the job satisfaction and job performance are both significant. When these variables are linked with job performance, the outcome revealed that higher degrees of happiness—in terms of pleasant life, good life, and meaningful life—and job satisfaction lead to very satisfactory job performance.

The article is devoted to the important issues of modern education and increasing the level of modern medical professionals’ training. The article covers the use of educational cases for practical classes in the discipline «Medical and Biological Physics» in natural sciences cycle for students of the first year of study in specialty “Medicine». The authors present the general structure of the case, which is used to consider most of the topics in practical classes. Pedagogical research (case studies and student interviews) found that students are willing to work in a team, often resorting to in-depth search for information to look more effective as a doctor, which in the future allows them to participate in conferences by presenting scientific reviews; willing to test a decision-making model that can be used in real life; gain confidence that the acquired knowledge will allow them to orientate themselves quickly in clinical cases that will be considered in the future. Such techniques also help students to move easily from the techniques used in secondary education to professional oriented teaching methods. The article presents the results of the survey on the effectiveness of the use of the case method and its perception by students. The results of the study allow the authors to conclude that the consideration of a possible clinical case in the study of clinical disciplines in senior years allows medical students to master a sufficient level of professional competencies in the study of fundamental disciplines, including «Medical and Biological Physics». The case designed to study the course of medical and biological physics, given its specifics, may contain the following types of questions of a professionally oriented nature: 1) manifestations of physical phenomena and processes in the human body and the possibility of their study; 2) basic methods of determining physical quantities in medical practice; 3) principles of functioning of devices in diagnostic and medical practice; 4) the consequences of the interaction of physical factors with biological environments; 5) prevention of adverse effects of external physical factors on the human body and counteraction to occupational diseases. Problem-based learning in general and the case method in particular is a good tactical pedagogical tool that plays a strategic role in the training of a competent specialist and is adequately perceived in the student environment. Students are willing to work on cases to become more effective in the role of a doctor, which in the future allows them to participate in conferences by presenting scientific reviews. Such techniques also help students to move easily from the techniques used in secondary education to professional oriented teaching methods.

OBJECTIVE: Congenital heart disease is one of the most common childhood diseases that affect both the children's and their families social life, quality of life and the children's academic achievement. The aim of this study is to evaluate the school performance of children suffering from congenital heart disease who underwent surgical or catheter based interventions. METHODS: The study group included 50 patients with congenital heart disease underwent surgical or catheter based interventions attending to secondary school (aged 12-15 years old) and 50 healthy controls. The academic success validation from official school grades of lessons Turkish, Mathematics, Science, Social Sciences lessons and behavioral attitudes were obtained from the Ministry of Education ‘’e-school’’ parent information system printouts. The patient group consisted of both cyanotic and acyanotic patients and each groups were compared with controls. RESULTS: Turkish, mathematics, physical education classes and behavioral attitudes note in the patient group was significantly lower than in the control group. The school success in Cyanotic group was significantly lower than the control group in Turkish, mathematics, education lessons and behavioral attitudes grades. Significant difference was not determined in science and social science lessons. CONCLUSION: Cyanotic group's success in mathematic and turkish lessons are lower in children with congenital heart disease especially in cyanotic group. We suggest that providing supportive teaching pragrammes for children with congenital hearth disease are needed in order to maintain academic success.

Today, in light of the tremendous technological development, media has become a requirement of modern life, as it is considered a means of learning about other sciences and cultures. For this, it has become necessary to educate young people in secondary school as an intermediate stage, to study media in all its branches, by including it within the teaching curricula, provided that the scientific components, specialized cadres and necessary equipment are available and to proceed with all that, according to an accurate and organized approach, especially since major countries such as Britain And an Arab like Saudi Arabia has preceded us, albeit in a limited way. This expected step deters young people from media illiteracy, broadens their perceptions at this school stage, helps them to creativity, visualization, extrapolation, and criticism, as well as pushes them to understand what is going on around them in terms of events and facts in various fields, and helps them to shorten their scientific career, by reaching the best The paths of comprehension, understanding, and creativity.

Philip Uri Treisman is a University Distinguished Teaching Professor, professor of mathematics, and professor of public affairs at The University of Texas at Austin. He is the founder and executive director of the Charles A. Dana Center, an organized research unit in the College of Natural Sciences that works to ensure that all students, regardless of their life circumstances, can access—and succeed—in rigorous mathematics and science education. Dr. Treisman is active in numerous organizations working to improve American mathematics education. He is a founder and member of the governing board of Transforming Post-Secondary Education in Mathematics (also known as TPSE-Math). He is a representative of the American Mathematical Society to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (Education, Section Q) and is a senior advisor to the Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences Research Advisory Group. In addition, he is a member of the Roundtable on Data Science Postsecondary Education with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Dr. Treisman has served as a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Education Commission of the States since 2013. He is also chairman of the Strong Start to Finish Campaign (and its expert advisory board), a joint initiative of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, and Ascendium Education Group that works nationally to ensure that all students get a strong start in their first year of college and finish with the skills they need to thrive. Treisman has served on the STEM working group of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, the 21st-Century Commission on the Future of Community Colleges of the American Association of Community Colleges, and the Commission on Mathematics and Science Education of the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Institute for Advanced Study. Treisman’s research and professional interests span mathematics and science education, education policy, social and developmental psychology, community service, and volunteerism.

Background: Since the advent of combination antiretroviral therapy, individuals living with HIV are living longer, with improved quality of life. However, HIV infection has a negative impact on the fertility potential of infected individuals. With the rising number of such individuals intending to exercise their reproductive intentions to have genetic offspring, each fertility clinic should devise strategies to help them realise such. Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the seroprevalence of HIV infection among the infertile women attending our gynaecology clinic. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted at the gynaecology clinic of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Makurdi, Nigeria, from January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2019. Three hundred consecutive infertile women attending the clinic were recruited for the study based on the eligible criteria. Questionnaire was used to obtain the data of each subject. Rapid tests were conducted on the subjects’ venous blood to determine their HIV and HBV serostatus. Data were analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPPS), version 25.0. Frequency tables were generated and the level of significance set at less than 0.05. Results: The mean age was 32.32 years. Subjects were predominantly Christians (99%). Majority of them (99%) were married. Nine percent, 49% and 42% had primary, secondary and tertiary education respectively. The HIV seroprevalence of the subjects was 7.7%. The HBV seroprevalence of HIV positive subjects was 69.6%. The HIV and HBV coinfection rate was 65.2%. Spousal HIV seropositivity (p = 0.000), tuboperitoneal factor (p = 0.006) and HBV seropositivity (0.000) had a statistically significant association with subjects’ HIV seropositivity. Conclusion: The HIV seroprevalence of the infertile women in this study was high; the HBV seroprevalence and HBV coinfection rates were also high among the HIV positive subjects. It is pertinent for each fertility clinic to devise strategies to assist HIV positive infertile subjects to achieve their reproductive intentions.

Welcome to a Special Issue of the International Journal for Educational Integrity: Best papers from the Plagiarism Across Europe and Beyond Conference, Brno, Czech Republic, 12–13 June 2013. The IJEI acknowledges the generous collaboration and collegial support of the organisers of the conference, particularly Tomas Foltýnek (Conference Convenor) and Irene Glendinning, Project Leader of the Impact of Policies for Plagiarism in Higher Education across Europe Project (IPPHEAE). Selected 'best papers' were submitted to the IJEI for consideration and additional double-blind peer review. As a result of subsequent revisions, the papers in this issue are substantially different from the original versions presented at the Czech conference. We open the issue with an overview and summary of results from the IPPHEAE by Project Leader Irene Glendinning from Coventry University, UK. Funded by the European Commission (2010–2013), the IPPHEAE is possibly the broadest study of academic integrity in Europe ever conducted, with a comparative study of academic integrity policies and procedures in higher education institutions (HEIs) across 27 European Union member states. The project used online questionnaires, student focus groups, structured interviews and analysis of documentary evidence to determine how well institutional procedures were understood, to what extent they were operating as intended and whether there was consistency of outcomes within and between institutions. Almost 5,000 responses were received in 14 different languages. Participants included students (at undergraduate and masters' levels), teaching staff and senior managers. Glendinning presents results from the survey that focused specifically on institutional policies and highlights examples of good practice as well as areas of concern. In keeping with international research from other settings and locations, the IPPHEAE findings indicate that there is no 'one size fits all' approach to academic integrity policy and practice. Each country and indeed each HEI needs to develop a tailored approach according to individual context, and taking into account the maturity of existing policies and systems. IPPHEAE project partners Tomáš Foltýnek and Jirí Rybicka from Mendel University, Czech Republic, and Catherine Demoliou from the University of Nicosia, Cyprus, use data obtained from the project survey to address the question: 'Do students think what teachers think about plagiarism?'. The researchers compare and contrast the overall data on students' and teachers' attitudes to academic writing, their perceptions of plagiarism and plagiarism penalties, and their knowledge of institutional policies/ procedures on plagiarism. Results indicate that there is a discrepancy in understanding between these two key stakeholder groups relating to how students learn about academic integrity, the challenges of academic writing, the causes of student plagiarism, identifying plagiarism, appropriate penalties for plagiarism, and knowledge of institutional policy. The authors contend that teachers' attitudes may require reflection and realignment to ensure they have a better understanding of students' educational needs and perceptions of plagiarism so that appropriate support can be offered. In the third paper, Rui Sousa-Silva from Universidade do Porto, Portugal, uses a forensic linguistics approach to analyse real-life plagiarism cases by higher education students. The author compares suspected plagiarised strings of text against the most likely original text, and demonstrates that strategies other than literal borrowing (wordfor- word text) are being increasingly used by students to plagiarise. Sousa-Silva provides examples to illustrate why existing automated text-matching software may fail to detect these cases of plagiarism. The paper concludes that while text-matching software is able to detect literal, verbatim plagiarism, it should not necessarily be considered a good 'plagiarism detection system' particularly when other strategies are used, such as translation, word substitution or reordering. The author also reminds us of the need for manual analysis by a 'human detector' to ensure that any accusations of plagiarism take into account both the linguistic and educational complexity underlying textual similarities. Finally, Sousa-Silva calls for more research and improvements in computational linguistics and natural language processing to increase the accuracy and reliability of the machine-detection procedure. In addition to the burgeoning international research on student plagiarism, Erja Moore, from Karelia University of Applied Sciences, Finland, suggests that accuracy of referencing might be another useful aspect to explore when examining students' writing practices. Moore analyses both the accuracy of referencing and plagiarism in 91 electronically published theses published in the Finnish Theseus database. In-text citations were compared to references, and in the case of frequent inaccuracy a Google search was used to scrutinise possible plagiarism. The accuracy of referencing was categorised into four classifications: accurate, some inaccuracy, constant inaccuracy and misleading referencing/plagiarism. Moore provides useful examples of inaccuracy, misquoting and plagiarism and also points to 'secondary source plagiarism', which occurs when text with accurate citations and references is copied from the original source and presented as the student's own. The analysis in Moore's study indicated that nearly one third (31%) of theses had major referencing inaccuracies, or referencing which could be categorised as misleading or plagiarised. It is clear from this study that constant inaccuracy and misleading referencing are categories that overlap with plagiarism. The results of Moore's study require careful consideration because they demonstrate that in Finnish higher education theses containing major inaccuracies have been accepted and published. The title of the conference Plagiarism Across Europe and Beyond points to the widespread interest in the topic of plagiarism, well beyond Europe. Robert Craig and David Dalton, from the Petroleum Institute, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, investigated the perceptions of first-year students concerning the proportion and frequency of cheating among their peers, as well as the main reasons for cheating behaviour. Their findings demonstrated that at the start of the undergraduate programme, three quarters to four fifths of the students viewed copying as serious or very serious, but after only one semester this percentage had dropped considerably for some areas. The data established that there was a clear problem in need of a remedy. The authors provide details of how the Communications Department of the Petroleum Institute facilitated a new, enquiry-based approach which facilitated student engagement, ownership and buy-in and which ultimately had a mitigating effect on copying and plagiarism. The authors make recommendations based on the experiences of their successful programme. In particular, they advocate for crossdepartmental collaboration, a consistent institutional voice on academic integrity, and curriculum based on experiential and enquiry-based learning. Taking the lessons on academic integrity in the UK to countries outside Europe is the central theme in the final paper by Stephen Gow, University of York, UK. Gow's research was based on interviews with ten Mainland Chinese master's students who had studied at a UK university and then returned to work at joint-venture educational institution in Shanghai. Gow examined participants' accounts of plagiarism and compared and contrasted the experience of plagiarism in Chinese and British educational contexts. He anticipated that the study would uncover the extent to which returnee scholars transmit academic integrity and the concept of plagiarism when returning to work in transnational education in China. The findings, using the qualitative methodology of interpretative repertoires, suggest that the participants used UK institutional vocabulary and developed a strict approach to plagiarism and academic integrity during their master's courses and in their subsequent educational careers. Furthermore, the participants in the study were able to "act as linguistic and cultural interpreters, promoting institutional relationships", despite some of the complexities of living, studying and working in two such different cultural and educational environments. Gow suggests that having moved between and adapting to these contexts, with appropriate support these returning Chinese graduates have the potential to act as a cultural bridge for academic integrity within internationalised higher education. I trust you will discover new insights in this Special Issue of the International Journal for Educational Integrity as it provides a broad range of perspectives on academic integrity in the many contexts of Europe, and well beyond. Tracey Bretag, IJEI Editor June 2014

At one point in Victor Hugo’s novel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the archdeacon, Claude Frollo, looked up from a book on his table to the edifice of the gothic cathedral, visible from his canon’s cell in the cloister of Notre Dame: “Alas!” he said, “this will kill that” (146). Frollo’s lament, that the book would destroy the edifice, captures the medieval cleric’s anxiety about the way in which Gutenberg’s print technology would become the new universal means for recording and communicating humanity’s ideas and artistic expression, replacing the grand monuments of architecture, human engineering, and craftsmanship. For Hugo, architecture was “the great handwriting of humankind” (149). The cathedral as the material outcome of human technology was being replaced by the first great machine—the printing press. At this point in the third millennium, some people undoubtedly have similar anxieties to Frollo: is it now the book’s turn to be destroyed by yet another great machine? The inclusion of “post print” in our title is not intended to sound the death knell of the book. Rather, we contend that despite the enduring value of print, digital publishing is “present and active” and is changing the way in which research, particularly in the humanities, is being undertaken. Our approach has three related parts. First, we consider how digital technologies are changing the way in which content is constructed, customised, modified, disseminated, and accessed within a global, distributed network. This section argues that the transition from print to electronic or digital publishing means both losses and gains, particularly with respect to shifts in our approaches to textuality, information, and innovative publishing. Second, we discuss the Children’s Literature Digital Resources (CLDR) project, with which we are involved. This case study of a digitising initiative opens out the transformative possibilities and challenges of digital publishing and e-scholarship for research communities. Third, we reflect on technology’s capacity to bring about major changes in the light of the theoretical and practical issues that have arisen from our discussion. I. Digitising in a “post-print age” We are living in an era that is commonly referred to as “the late age of print” (see Kho) or the “post-print age” (see Gunkel). According to Aarseth, we have reached a point whereby nearly all of our public and personal media have become more or less digital (37). As Kho notes, web newspapers are not only becoming increasingly more popular, but they are also making rather than losing money, and paper-based newspapers are finding it difficult to recruit new readers from the younger generations (37). Not only can such online-only publications update format, content, and structure more economically than print-based publications, but their wide distribution network, speed, and flexibility attract advertising revenue. Hype and hyperbole aside, publishers are not so much discarding their legacy of print, but recognising the folly of not embracing innovative technologies that can add value by presenting information in ways that satisfy users’ needs for content to-go or for edutainment. As Kho notes: “no longer able to satisfy customer demand by producing print-only products, or even by enabling online access to semi-static content, established publishers are embracing new models for publishing, web-style” (42). Advocates of online publishing contend that the major benefits of online publishing over print technology are that it is faster, more economical, and more interactive. However, as Hovav and Gray caution, “e-publishing also involves risks, hidden costs, and trade-offs” (79). The specific focus for these authors is e-journal publishing and they contend that while cost reduction is in editing, production and distribution, if the journal is not open access, then costs relating to storage and bandwith will be transferred to the user. If we put economics aside for the moment, the transition from print to electronic text (e-text), especially with electronic literary works, brings additional considerations, particularly in their ability to make available different reading strategies to print, such as “animation, rollovers, screen design, navigation strategies, and so on” (Hayles 38). Transition from print to e-text In his book, Writing Space, David Bolter follows Victor Hugo’s lead, but does not ask if print technology will be destroyed. Rather, he argues that “the idea and ideal of the book will change: print will no longer define the organization and presentation of knowledge, as it has for the past five centuries” (2). As Hayles noted above, one significant indicator of this change, which is a consequence of the shift from analogue to digital, is the addition of graphical, audio, visual, sonic, and kinetic elements to the written word. A significant consequence of this transition is the reinvention of the book in a networked environment. Unlike the printed book, the networked book is not bound by space and time. Rather, it is an evolving entity within an ecology of readers, authors, and texts. The Web 2.0 platform has enabled more experimentation with blending of digital technology and traditional writing, particularly in the use of blogs, which have spawned blogwriting and the wikinovel. Siva Vaidhyanathan’s The Googlization of Everything: How One Company is Disrupting Culture, Commerce and Community … and Why We Should Worry is a wikinovel or blog book that was produced over a series of weeks with contributions from other bloggers (see: http://www.sivacracy.net/). Penguin Books, in collaboration with a media company, “Six Stories to Start,” have developed six stories—“We Tell Stories,” which involve different forms of interactivity from users through blog entries, Twitter text messages, an interactive google map, and other features. For example, the story titled “Fairy Tales” allows users to customise the story using their own choice of names for characters and descriptions of character traits. Each story is loosely based on a classic story and links take users to synopses of these original stories and their authors and to online purchase of the texts through the Penguin Books sales website. These examples of digital stories are a small part of the digital environment, which exploits computer and online technologies’ capacity to be interactive and immersive. As Janet Murray notes, the interactive qualities of digital environments are characterised by their procedural and participatory abilities, while their immersive qualities are characterised by their spatial and encyclopedic dimensions (71–89). These immersive and interactive qualities highlight different ways of reading texts, which entail different embodied and cognitive functions from those that reading print texts requires. As Hayles argues: the advent of electronic textuality presents us with an unparalleled opportunity to reformulate fundamental ideas about texts and, in the process, to see print as well as electronic texts with fresh eyes (89–90). The transition to e-text also highlights how digitality is changing all aspects of everyday life both inside and outside the academy. Online teaching and e-research Another aspect of the commercial arm of publishing that is impacting on academe and other organisations is the digitising and indexing of print content for niche distribution. Kho offers the example of the Mark Logic Corporation, which uses its XML content platform to repurpose content, create new content, and distribute this content through multiple portals. As the promotional website video for Mark Logic explains, academics can use this service to customise their own textbooks for students by including only articles and book chapters that are relevant to their subject. These are then organised, bound, and distributed by Mark Logic for sale to students at a cost that is generally cheaper than most textbooks. A further example of how print and digital materials can form an integrated, customised source for teachers and students is eFictions (Trimmer, Jennings, & Patterson). eFictions was one of the first print and online short story anthologies that teachers of literature could customise to their own needs. Produced as both a print text collection and a website, eFictions offers popular short stories in English by well-known traditional and contemporary writers from the US, Australia, New Zealand, UK, and Europe, with summaries, notes on literary features, author biographies, and, in one instance, a YouTube movie of the story. In using the eFictions website, teachers can build a customised anthology of traditional and innovative stories to suit their teaching preferences. These examples provide useful indicators of how content is constructed, customised, modified, disseminated, and accessed within a distributed network. However, the question remains as to how to measure their impact and outcomes within teaching and learning communities. As Harley suggests in her study on the use and users of digital resources in the humanities and social sciences, several factors warrant attention, such as personal teaching style, philosophy, and specific disciplinary requirements. However, in terms of understanding the benefits of digital resources for teaching and learning, Harley notes that few providers in her sample had developed any plans to evaluate use and users in a systematic way. In addition to the problems raised in Harley’s study, another relates to how researchers can be supported to take full advantage of digital technologies for e-research. The transformation brought about by information and communication technologies extends and broadens the impact of research, by making its outputs more discoverable and usable by other researchers, and its benefits more available to industry, governments, and the wider community. Traditional repositories of knowledge and information, such as libraries, are juggling the space demands of books and computer hardware alongside increasing reader demand for anywhere, anytime, anyplace access to information. Researchers’ expectations about online access to journals, eprints, bibliographic data, and the views of others through wikis, blogs, and associated social and information networking sites such as YouTube compete with the traditional expectations of the institutions that fund libraries for paper-based archives and book repositories. While university libraries are finding it increasingly difficult to purchase all hardcover books relevant to numerous and varied disciplines, a significant proportion of their budgets goes towards digital repositories (e.g., STORS), indexes, and other resources, such as full-text electronic specialised and multidisciplinary journal databases (e.g., Project Muse and Proquest); electronic serials; e-books; and specialised information sources through fast (online) document delivery services. An area that is becoming increasingly significant for those working in the humanities is the digitising of historical and cultural texts. II. Bringing back the dead: The CLDR project The CLDR project is led by researchers and librarians at the Queensland University of Technology, in collaboration with Deakin University, University of Sydney, and members of the AustLit team at The University of Queensland. The CLDR project is a “Research Community” of the electronic bibliographic database AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource, which is working towards the goal of providing a complete bibliographic record of the nation’s literature. AustLit offers users with a single entry point to enhanced scholarly resources on Australian writers, their works, and other aspects of Australian literary culture and activities. AustLit and its Research Communities are supported by grants from the Australian Research Council and financial and in-kind contributions from a consortium of Australian universities, and by other external funding sources such as the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy. Like other more extensive digitisation projects, such as Project Gutenberg and the Rosetta Project, the CLDR project aims to provide a centralised access point for digital surrogates of early published works of Australian children’s literature, with access pathways to existing resources. The first stage of the CLDR project is to provide access to digitised, full-text, out-of-copyright Australian children’s literature from European settlement to 1945, with selected digitised critical works relevant to the field. Texts comprise a range of genres, including poetry, drama, and narrative for young readers and picture books, songs, and rhymes for infants. Currently, a selection of 75 e-texts and digital scans of original texts from Project Gutenberg and Internet Archive have been linked to the Children’s Literature Research Community. By the end of 2009, the CLDR will have digitised approximately 1000 literary texts and a significant number of critical works. Stage II and subsequent development will involve digitisation of selected texts from 1945 onwards. A precursor to the CLDR project has been undertaken by Deakin University in collaboration with the State Library of Victoria, whereby a digital bibliographic index comprising Victorian School Readers has been completed with plans for full-text digital surrogates of a selection of these texts. These texts provide valuable insights into citizenship, identity, and values formation from the 1930s onwards. At the time of writing, the CLDR is at an early stage of development. An extensive survey of out-of-copyright texts has been completed and the digitisation of these resources is about to commence. The project plans to make rich content searchable, allowing scholars from children’s literature studies and education to benefit from the many advantages of online scholarship. What digital publishing and associated digital archives, electronic texts, hypermedia, and so forth foreground is the fact that writers, readers, publishers, programmers, designers, critics, booksellers, teachers, and copyright laws operate within a context that is highly mediated by technology. In his article on large-scale digitisation projects carried out by Cornell and University of Michigan with the Making of America collection of 19th-century American serials and monographs, Hirtle notes that when special collections’ materials are available via the Web, with appropriate metadata and software, then they can “increase use of the material, contribute to new forms of research, and attract new users to the material” (44). Furthermore, Hirtle contends that despite the poor ergonomics associated with most electronic displays and e-book readers, “people will, when given the opportunity, consult an electronic text over the print original” (46). If this preference is universally accurate, especially for researchers and students, then it follows that not only will the preference for electronic surrogates of original material increase, but preference for other kinds of electronic texts will also increase. It is with this preference for electronic resources in mind that we approached the field of children’s literature in Australia and asked questions about how future generations of researchers would prefer to work. If electronic texts become the reference of choice for primary as well as secondary sources, then it seems sensible to assume that researchers would prefer to sit at the end of the keyboard than to travel considerable distances at considerable cost to access paper-based print texts in distant libraries and archives. We considered the best means for providing access to digitised primary and secondary, full text material, and digital pathways to existing online resources, particularly an extensive indexing and bibliographic database. Prior to the commencement of the CLDR project, AustLit had already indexed an extensive number of children’s literature. Challenges and dilemmas The CLDR project, even in its early stages of development, has encountered a number of challenges and dilemmas that centre on access, copyright, economic capital, and practical aspects of digitisation, and sustainability. These issues have relevance for digital publishing and e-research. A decision is yet to be made as to whether the digital texts in CLDR will be available on open or closed/tolled access. The preference is for open access. As Hayles argues, copyright is more than a legal basis for intellectual property, as it also entails ideas about authorship, creativity, and the work as an “immaterial mental construct” that goes “beyond the paper, binding, or ink” (144). Seeking copyright permission is therefore only part of the issue. Determining how the item will be accessed is a further matter, particularly as future technologies may impact upon how a digital item is used. In the case of e-journals, the issue of copyright payment structures are evolving towards a collective licensing system, pay-per-view, and other combinations of print and electronic subscription (see Hovav and Gray). For research purposes, digitisation of items for CLDR is not simply a scan and deliver process. Rather it is one that needs to ensure that the best quality is provided and that the item is both accessible and usable by researchers, and sustainable for future researchers. Sustainability is an important consideration and provides a challenge for institutions that host projects such as CLDR. Therefore, items need to be scanned to a high quality and this requires an expensive scanner and personnel costs. Files need to be in a variety of formats for preservation purposes and so that they may be manipulated to be useable in different technologies (for example, Archival Tiff, Tiff, Jpeg, PDF, HTML). Hovav and Gray warn that when technology becomes obsolete, then content becomes unreadable unless backward integration is maintained. The CLDR items will be annotatable given AustLit’s NeAt funded project: Aus-e-Lit. The Aus-e-Lit project will extend and enhance the existing AustLit web portal with data integration and search services, empirical reporting services, collaborative annotation services, and compound object authoring, editing, and publishing services. For users to be able to get the most out of a digital item, it needs to be searchable, either through double keying or OCR (optimal character recognition). The value of CLDR’s contribution The value of the CLDR project lies in its goal to provide a comprehensive, searchable body of texts (fictional and critical) to researchers across the humanities and social sciences. Other projects seem to be intent on putting up as many items as possible to be considered as a first resort for online texts. CLDR is more specific and is not interested in simply generating a presence on the Web. Rather, it is research driven both in its design and implementation, and in its focussed outcomes of assisting academics and students primarily in their e-research endeavours. To this end, we have concentrated on the following: an extensive survey of appropriate texts; best models for file location, distribution, and use; and high standards of digitising protocols. These issues that relate to data storage, digitisation, collections, management, and end-users of data are aligned with the “Development of an Australian Research Data Strategy” outlined in An Australian e-Research Strategy and Implementation Framework (2006). CLDR is not designed to simply replicate resources, as it has a distinct focus, audience, and research potential. In addition, it looks at resources that may be forgotten or are no longer available in reproduction by current publishing companies. Thus, the aim of CLDR is to preserve both the time and a period of Australian history and literary culture. It will also provide users with an accessible repository of rare and early texts written for children. III. Future directions It is now commonplace to recognize that the Web’s role as information provider has changed over the past decade. New forms of “collective intelligence” or “distributed cognition” (Oblinger and Lombardi) are emerging within and outside formal research communities. Technology’s capacity to initiate major cultural, social, educational, economic, political and commercial shifts has conditioned us to expect the “next big thing.” We have learnt to adapt swiftly to the many challenges that online technologies have presented, and we have reaped the benefits. As the examples in this discussion have highlighted, the changes in online publishing and digitisation have provided many material, network, pedagogical, and research possibilities: we teach online units providing students with access to e-journals, e-books, and customized archives of digitised materials; we communicate via various online technologies; we attend virtual conferences; and we participate in e-research through a global, digital network. In other words, technology is deeply engrained in our everyday lives. In returning to Frollo’s concern that the book would destroy architecture, Umberto Eco offers a placatory note: “in the history of culture it has never happened that something has simply killed something else. Something has profoundly changed something else” (n. pag.). Eco’s point has relevance to our discussion of digital publishing. The transition from print to digital necessitates a profound change that impacts on the ways we read, write, and research. As we have illustrated with our case study of the CLDR project, the move to creating digitised texts of print literature needs to be considered within a dynamic network of multiple causalities, emergent technological processes, and complex negotiations through which digital texts are created, stored, disseminated, and used. Technological changes in just the past five years have, in many ways, created an expectation in the minds of people that the future is no longer some distant time from the present. Rather, as our title suggests, the future is both present and active. References Aarseth, Espen. “How we became Postdigital: From Cyberstudies to Game Studies.” Critical Cyber-culture Studies. Ed. David Silver and Adrienne Massanari. New York: New York UP, 2006. 37–46. An Australian e-Research Strategy and Implementation Framework: Final Report of the e-Research Coordinating Committee. Commonwealth of Australia, 2006. Bolter, Jay David. Writing Space: The Computer, Hypertext, and the History of Writing. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1991. Eco, Umberto. “The Future of the Book.” 1994. 3 June 2008 ‹http://www.themodernword.com/eco/eco_future_of_book.html>. Gunkel, David. J. “What's the Matter with Books?” Configurations 11.3 (2003): 277–303. Harley, Diane. “Use and Users of Digital Resources: A Focus on Undergraduate Education in the Humanities and Social Sciences.” Research and Occasional Papers Series. Berkeley: University of California. Centre for Studies in Higher Education. 12 June 2008 ‹http://www.themodernword.com/eco/eco_future_of_book.html>. Hayles, N. Katherine. My Mother was a Computer: Digital Subjects and Literary Texts. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2005. Hirtle, Peter B. “The Impact of Digitization on Special Collections in Libraries.” Libraries & Culture 37.1 (2002): 42–52. Hovav, Anat and Paul Gray. “Managing Academic E-journals.” Communications of the ACM 47.4 (2004): 79–82. Hugo, Victor. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Notre-Dame de Paris). Ware, Hertfordshire: Wordsworth editions, 1993. Kho, Nancy D. “The Medium Gets the Message: Post-Print Publishing Models.” EContent 30.6 (2007): 42–48. Oblinger, Diana and Marilyn Lombardi. “Common Knowledge: Openness in Higher Education.” Opening up Education: The Collective Advancement of Education Through Open Technology, Open Content and Open Knowledge. Ed. Toru Liyoshi and M. S. Vijay Kumar. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2007. 389–400. Murray, Janet H. Hamlet on the Holodeck: The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2001. Trimmer, Joseph F., Wade Jennings, and Annette Patterson. eFictions. New York: Harcourt, 2001.

“I’m fat–and it’s okay! It doesn’t mean I’m stupid, or ugly, or lazy, or selfish. I’m fat!” so proclaims Joy Nash in her YouTube video, A Fat Rant. “Fat! It’s three little letters–what are you afraid of?!” This is the question I pose to my class on day one of Fat Studies. Sadly, many college students do fear fat, and negative attitudes toward fat people are quite prevalent in this population (Ambwani et al. 366). As I teach it, Fat Studies is cross-listed between Psychology and Gender Studies. However, most students who enrol have majors in Psychology or other behavioural health science fields in which weight bias is particularly pronounced (Watkins and Concepcion 159). Upon finding stronger bias among third- versus first-year Physical Education students, O’Brien, Hunter, and Banks (308) speculated that the weight-centric curriculum that typifies this field actively engenders anti-fat attitudes. Based on their exploration of textbook content, McHugh and Kasardo (621) contend that Psychology too is complicit in propagating weight bias by espousing weight-centric messages throughout the curriculum. Such messages include the concepts that higher body weight invariably leads to poor health, weight control is simply a matter of individual choice, and dieting is an effective means of losing weight and improving health (Tylka et al.). These weight-centric tenets are, however, highly contested. For instance, there exists a body of research so vast that it has its own name, the “obesity paradox” literature. This literature (McAuley and Blair 773) entails studies that show that “obese” persons with chronic disease have relatively better survival rates and that a substantial portion of “overweight” and “obese” individuals have levels of metabolic health similar to or better than “normal” weight individuals (e.g., Flegal et al. 71). Finally, the “obesity paradox” literature includes studies showing that cardiovascular fitness is a far better predictor of mortality than weight. In other words, individuals may be both fit and fat, or conversely, unfit and thin (Barry et al. 382). In addition, Tylka et al. review literature attesting to the complex causes of weight status that extend beyond individual behaviour, ranging from genetic predispositions to sociocultural factors beyond personal control. Lastly, reviews of research on dieting interventions show that these are overwhelmingly ineffective in producing lasting weight loss or actual improvements in health and may in fact lead to disordered eating and other unanticipated adverse consequences (e.g., Bacon and Aphramor; Mann et al. 220; Salas e79; Tylka et al.).The newfound, interdisciplinary field of scholarship known as Fat Studies aims to debunk weight-centric misconceptions by elucidating findings that counter these mainstream suppositions. Health At Every Size® (HAES), a weight-neutral approach to holistic well-being, is an important facet of Fat Studies. The HAES paradigm advocates intuitive eating and pleasurable physical activity for health rather than restrictive dieting and regimented exercise for weight loss. HAES further encourages body acceptance of self and others regardless of size. Empirical evidence shows that HAES-based interventions improve physical and psychological health without harmful side-effects or high dropout rates associated with weight loss interventions (Bacon and Aphramor; Clifford et al. “Impact of Non-Diet Approaches” 143). HAES, like the broader field of Fat Studies, seeks to eradicate weight-based discrimination, positioning weight bias as a social justice issue that intersects with oppression based on other areas of difference such as gender, race, and social class. Much like Queer Studies, Fat Studies seeks to reclaim the word, fat, thus stripping it of its pejorative connotations. As Nash asserts in her video, “Fat is a descriptive physical characteristic. It’s not an insult, or an obscenity, or a death sentence!” As an academic discipline, Fat Studies is expanding its visibility and reach. The Fat Studies Reader, the primary source of reading for my course, provides a comprehensive overview of the field (Rothblum and Solovay 1). This interdisciplinary anthology addresses fat history and activism, fat as social inequality, fat in healthcare, and fat in popular culture. Ward (937) reviews this and other recently-released fat-friendly texts. The field features its own journal, Fat Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Body Weight and Society, which publishes original research, overview articles, and reviews of assorted media. Both the Popular Culture Association and National Women’s Studies Association have special interest groups devoted to Fat Studies, and the American Psychological Association’s Division on the Psychology of Women has recently formed a task force on sizism (Bergen and Carrizales 22). Furthermore, Fat Studies conferences have been held in Australia and New Zealand, and the third annual Weight Stigma Conference will occur in Iceland, September 2015. Although the latter conference is not necessarily limited to those who align themselves with Fat Studies, keynote speakers include Ragen Chastain, a well-known member of the fat acceptance movement largely via her blog, Dances with Fat. The theme of this year’s conference, “Institutionalised Weightism: How to Challenge Oppressive Systems,” is consistent with Fat Studies precepts:This year’s theme focuses on the larger social hierarchies that favour thinness and reject fatness within western culture and how these systems have dictated the framing of fatness within the media, medicine, academia and our own identities. What can be done to oppose systemised oppression? What can be learned from the fight for social justice and equality within other arenas? Can research and activism be united to challenge prevailing ideas about fat bodies?Concomitantly, Fat Studies courses have begun to appear on college campuses. Watkins, Farrell, and Doyle-Hugmeyer (180) identified and described four Fat Studies and two HAES courses that were being taught in the U.S. and abroad as of 2012. Since then, a Fat Studies course has been taught online at West Virginia University and another will soon be offered at Washington State University. Additionally, a new HAES class has been taught at Saint Mary’s College of California during the last two academic years. Cameron (“Toward a Fat Pedagogy” 28) describes ways in which nearly 30 instructors from five different countries have incorporated fat studies pedagogy into university courses across an array of academic areas. This growing trend is manifested in The Fat Pedagogy Reader (Russell and Cameron) due out later this year. In this article, I describe content and pedagogical strategies that I use in my Fat Studies course. I then share students’ qualitative reactions, drawing upon excerpts from written assignments. During the term reported here, the class was comprised of 17 undergraduate and 5 graduate students. Undergraduate majors included 47% in Psychology, 24% in Women Studies, 24% in various other College of Liberal Arts fields, and 6% in the College of Public Health. Graduate majors included 40% in the College of Public Health and 60% in the College of Education. Following submission of final grades, students provided consent via email allowing written responses on assignments to be anonymously incorporated into research reports. Assignments drawn upon for this report include weekly reading reactions to specific journal articles in which students were to summarise the main points, identify and discuss a specific quote or passage that stood out to them, and consider and discuss applicability of the information in the article. This report also utilises responses to a final assignment in which students were to articulate take-home lessons from the course.Despite the catalogue description, many students enter Fat Studies with a misunderstanding of what the course entails. Some admitted that they thought the course was about reducing obesity and the presumed health risks associated with this alleged pathological condition (Watkins). Others understood, but were somewhat dubious, at least at the outset, “Before I began this class, I admit that I was skeptical of what Fat Studies meant.” Another student experienced “a severe cognitive dissonance” between the Fat Studies curriculum and that of a previous behavioural health class:My professor spent the entire quarter spouting off statistics, such as the next generation of children will be the first generation to have a lower life expectancy than their parents and the ever increasing obesity rates that are putting such a tax on our health care system, and I took her words to heart. I was scared for myself and for the populations I would soon be working with. I was worried that I was destined to a chronic disease and bothered that my BMI was two points above ‘normal.’ I believed everything my professor alluded to on the danger of obesity because it was things I had heard in the media and was led to believe all my life.Yet another related, “At first, I will be honest, it was hard for me to accept a lot of this information, but throughout the term every class changed my mind about my view of fat people.” A few students have voiced even greater initial resistance. During a past term, one student lamented that the material represented an attack on her intended behavioural health profession. Cameron (“Learning to Teach Everybody”) describes comparable reactions among students in her Critical Obesity course taught within a behavioural health science unit. Ward (937) attests that, even in Gender Studies, fat is the topic that creates the most controversy. Similarly, she describes students’ immense discomfort when asked to entertain perspectives that challenge deeply engrained ideas inculcated by our culture’s “obesity epidemic.” Discomfort, however, is not necessarily antithetical to learning. In prompting students to unlearn “the biomedically-informed truth of obesity, namely that fat people are unfit, unhealthy, and in need of ‘saving’ through expert interventions,” Moola at al. recommend equipping them with an “ethics of discomfort” (217). No easy task, “It requires courage to ask our students to forgo the security of prescriptive health messaging in favour of confusion and uncertainty” (221). I encourage students to entertain conflicting perspectives by assigning empirically-based articles emanating from peer-reviewed journals in their own disciplines that challenge mainstream discourses on obesity (e.g., Aphramor; Bombak e60; Tomiyama, Ahlstrom, and Mann 861). Students whose training is steeped in the scientific method seem to appreciate having quantitative data at their disposal to convince themselves–and their peers and professors–that widely held weight-centric beliefs and practices may not be valid. One student remarked, “Since I have taken this course, I feel like I am prepared to discuss the fallacy of the weight-health relationship,” citing specific articles that would aid in the effort. Likewise, Cameron’s (“Learning to Teach Everybody”) students reported a need to read research reports in order to begin questioning long-held beliefs.In addition, I assign readings that provide students with the opportunity to hear the voices of fat people themselves, a cornerstone of Fat Studies. Besides chapters in The Fat Studies Reader authored by scholars and activists who identify as fat, I assign qualitative articles (e.g., Lewis et al.) and narrative reports (e.g., Pause 42) in which fat people describe their experiences with weight and weight bias. Additionally, I provide positive images of fat people via films and websites (Clifford et al. HAES®; Watkins; Watkins and Doyle-Hugmeyer 177) in order to counteract the preponderance of negative, dehumanising portrayals in popular media (e.g., Ata and Thompson 41). In response, a student stated:One of the biggest things I took away from this term was the confidence I found in fat women through films and stories. They had more confidence than I have seen in any tiny girl and owned the body they were given.I introduce “normal” weight allies as well, most especially Linda Bacon whose treatise on thin privilege tends to set the stage for viewing weight bias as a form of oppression (Bacon). One student observed, “It was a relief to be able to read and talk about weight oppression in a classroom setting for once.” Another appreciated that “The class did a great job at analysing fat as oppression and not like a secondhand oppression as I have seen in my past classes.” Typically, fat students were already aware of weight-based privilege and oppression, often painfully so. Thinner students, however, were often astonished by this concept, several describing Bacon’s article as “eye-opening.” In reaction, many vowed to act as allies:This class has really opened my eyes and prepared me to be an ally to fat people. It will be difficult for some time while I try to get others to understand my point of view on fat people but I believe once there are enough allies, people’s minds will really start changing and it will benefit everyone for the better.Pedagogically, I choose to share my own experiences as they relate to course content and encourage students, at least in their written assignments, to do the same. Other instructors refrain from this practice for fear of reinforcing traditional discourses or eliciting detrimental reactions from students (Watkins, Farrell, and Doyle-Hugmeyer 191). Nevertheless, this tack seems to work well in my course, with many students opting to disclose their relevant circumstances during classroom discussions: Throughout the term I very much valued and appreciated when classmates would share their experiences. I love listening and hearing to others experiences and I think that is a great way to understand the material and learn from one another.It really helped to read different articles and hear classmates discuss and share stories that I was able to relate to. The idea of hearing people talk about issues that I thought I was the only one who dealt with was so refreshing and enlightening.The structure of this class allowed me to learn how this information is applicable to my life and made it deeper than just memorising information.Thus far, across three terms, no student has described iatrogenic effects from this process. In fact, most attribute positive transformations to the class. These include enhanced body acceptance of self and others: This class decreased my fat phobia towards others and gave me a better understanding about the intersectionality of one’s weight. For example, I now feel that I no longer view my family in a fat phobic way and I also feel responsible for educating my brother and helping him develop a strong self-esteem regardless of his size.I never thought this class would change my life, almost save my life. Through studies shown in class and real life people following their dreams, it made my mind completely change about how I view my body and myself.I can only hope that in the future, I will be more forgiving, tolerant, and above all accepting of myself, much less others. Regardless of a person’s shape and size, we are all beautiful, and while I’m just beginning to understand this, it can only get better from here.Students also reported becoming more savvy consumers of weight-centric media messages as well as realigning their eating and exercise behaviour in accordance with HAES: I find myself disgusted at the television now, especially with the amount of diet ads, fitness club ads, and exercise equipment ads all aimed at making a ‘better you.’ I now know that I would never be better off with a SlimFast shake, P90X, or a Total Gym. I would be better off eating when I’m hungry, working out because it is fun, and still eating Thin Mints when I want to. Prior to this class, I would work out rigorously, running seven miles a day. Now I realise why at times I dreaded to work out, it was simply a mathematical system to burn the energy that I had acquired earlier in the day. Instead what I realise I should do is something I enjoy, that way I will never get tired of whatever I am doing. While I do enjoy running, other activities would bring more joy while engaging in a healthy lifestyle like hiking or mountain biking.I will never go on another diet. I will stop choosing exercises I don’t love to do. I will not weigh myself every single day hoping for the number on the scale to change.A reduction in self-weighing was perhaps the most frequent behaviour change that students expressed. This is particularly valuable in that frequent self-weighing is associated with disordered eating and unhealthy weight control behaviours (Neumark-Sztainer et al. 811):I have realised that the number on the scale is simply a number on the scale. That number does not define who you are. I have stopped weighing myself every morning. I put the scale in the storage closet so I don’t have to look at it. I even encouraged my roommate to stop weighing herself too. What has been most beneficial for me to take away from this class is the notion that the number on the scale has so much less to do with fitness levels than most people understand. Coming from a numbers obsessed person like myself, this class has actually gotten me to leave the scales behind. I used to weigh myself every single day and my self-confidence reflected whether I was up or down in weight from the day before. It seems so silly to me now. From this class, I take away a new outlook on body diversity. I will evaluate who I am for what I do and not represent myself with a number. I’m going to have my cake this time, and actually eat it too!Finally, students described ways in which they might carry the concepts from Fat Studies into their future professions: I want to go to law school. This model is something I will work toward in the fight for social justice.As a teacher and teacher of teachers, I plan to incorporate discussions on size diversity and how this should be addressed within the field of adapted physical education.I do not know how I would have gone forward if I had never taken this class. I probably would have continued to use weight loss as an effective measure of success for both nutrition and physical activity interventions. I will never be able to think about the obesity prevention movement in the same way.Since I am working toward being a clinical psychologist, I don’t want to have a client who is pursuing weight loss and then blindly believe that they need to lose weight. I’d rather be of the mindset that every person is unique, and that there are other markers of health at every size.Jones and Hughes-Decatur (59) call for increased scholarship illustrating and evaluating critical body pedagogies so that teachers might provide students with tools to critique dominant discourses, helping them forge healthy relationships with their own bodies in the process. As such, this paper describes elements of a Fat Studies class that other instructors may choose to adopt. It additionally presents qualitative data suggesting that students came to think about fat and fat people in new and divergent ways. Qualitative responses also suggest that students developed better body image and more adaptive eating and exercise behaviours throughout the term. Although no students have yet described lasting adverse effects from the class, one stated that she would have preferred less of a focus on health and more of a focus on issues such as fat fashion. Indeed, some Fat Studies scholars (e.g., Lee) advocate separating discussions of weight bias from discussions of health status to avoid stigmatising fat people who do experience health problems. While concerns about fostering healthism within the fat acceptance movement are valid, as a behavioural health professional with an audience of students training in these fields, I have chosen to devote three weeks of our ten week term to this subject matter. Depending on their academic background, others who teach Fat Studies may choose to emphasise different aspects such as media representations or historical connotations of fat.Nevertheless, the preponderance of positive comments evidenced throughout students’ assignments may certainly be a function of social desirability. Although I explicitly invite critique, and in fact assign readings (e.g., Welsh 33) and present media that question HAES and Fat Studies concepts, students may still feel obliged to articulate acceptance of and transformations consistent with the principles of these movements. As a more objective assessment of student outcomes, I am currently conducting a quantitative evaluation, in which I remain blind to students’ identities, of this year’s Fat Studies course compared to other upper division/graduate Psychology courses, examining potential changes in weight bias, body image and dieting behaviour, adherence to appearance-related media messages, and obligatory exercise behaviour. I postulate results akin to those of Humphrey, Clifford, and Neyman Morris (143) who found reductions in weight bias, improved body image, and improved eating behaviour among college students as a function of their HAES course. 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