Journal articles on the topic 'Teacher homework perspectives'

Background/Context Despite the best intentions to close the achievement gap, the under-achievement of African American students in science is a persistent problem. It is surprising to note, however, that research on science education has often failed to consider students’ cultural diversity as it relates to science education. On the few occasions when efforts were made to link science disciplines and students’ cultural backgrounds, these studies were largely limited to classroom learning environments. Purpose/Research Question This study examines the perspectives of exemplary African American teachers toward science homework. Specifically, we address two research questions: What does science homework mean to exemplary African American science teachers? How do they approach science homework? Research Design A qualitative study was conducted, with data obtained from the following sources: (a) three open-ended, in-depth interviews with each exemplary teacher during the first year of the study, and (b) two focus group interviews with these teachers during the second year of the study. The participants were 8 exemplary African American science teachers in Grades 3–6 in the southeastern United States. Findings/Results Data revealed that these teachers shared a strong sense of urgency to use homework as an important vehicle in science learning. To help their students be successful with their homework, these teachers often provided additional provisions and used a variety of strategies to promote students’ interest in their homework. In addition, the teachers adapted an approach comparable to both Boykin's Afrocultural ethos (e.g., concerned with affect, expressive individualism, and verve) and “being a warm demander” (i.e., setting high expectations and insisting firmly yet respectfully that students meet those expectations). Conclusions These findings suggest that there is merit in integrating these two frameworks to better understand the perspectives of exemplary African American teachers toward science homework. These findings highlight the need to examine the perspectives of exemplary African American teachers toward secondary school science homework given that the poor achievement of African American students becomes more pronounced as they progress through school, and homework is found to be more strongly associated with secondary school students than elementary school students.

Introduction. Homework is one of the daily assessment methods used by the classroom teacher. In the literature, there are many studies dealing with homework management from the perspectives of students and parents. However, studies concerning teachers' self-efficacy for homework management are scarce. This study aimed at developing and validating a scale for measuring teachers' self-efficacy for homework management. Method. A descriptive research design was employed in this study. The participants were 127 teachers randomly selected from one educational governorate in the Sultanate of Oman. The literature was reviewed to construct 20 items reflecting various aspects of the homework design and implementation. The items and the responses were subjected to a validation process. Results. Factorial structure of the scale revealed three subscales: efficacy for planning and designing homework; efficacy for monitoring, assessing, and providing feedback on homework; and efficacy for considering individual differences in homework. The three subscales showed acceptable evidence of validity and reliability. Discussion and Conclusion. The psychometric analysis of the teachers’ responses showed that the three subscales were reliable measures of teachers’ self-efficacy for homework management. These results support the usefulness of using the scale as an assessment tool for research purposes and the professional development of teachers. These results present new knowledge about teachers’ management of homework with planning and designing being the salient factor.

Abstract: This study examined United States K-12 science teacher interactions with parents during Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) reform following teachers’ professional development (PD) participation, as well as parent accounts of understanding and support for NGSS. Fourteen teachers and fifteen parents completed an online surveys and phone interviews. Themes, based on coded data, were constructed to represent relationships between teachers and parents during NGSS classroom implementation post-PD. We found that parents were generally unaware of NGSS and not well-informed about the changes the new standards brought to their child’s science classrooms. Despite parents’ lack of NGSS understanding, parents generally gave positive feedback about teachers’ science instruction. However, parents expressed concern about their child’s ability to transition between grade levels and subjects, the lack of an aligned textbook and homework assignments, and confusion with how to help their children at home in preparation for assessments. The results of this study suggest that it is important for school districts to inform parents adequately about the new NGSS curriculum and its implementation. While this study took place in the United States and pertains to NGSS, the findings are broadly applicable to teacher development and communications with parents during standards reform, regardless of country.

Purpose This study aims to investigate teacher perspectives on teaching handwriting to children with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) and collaboration with occupational therapists. Design/methodology/approach A descriptive design was applied. Purpose-designed surveys were distributed to teachers of children with ASD (aged 4-12 years) in the Republic of Ireland. A response rate of 35 per cent (N = 75) was obtained, with 25 responses analysed using descriptive statistics of closed questions and content analysis of open-ended questions. Findings Of 139 children with ASD, 80 (58 per cent) were reported to have difficulties with handwriting. Teachers reported specific difficulties with pencil grasp, letter formation and task concept among the children with ASD. Fourteen (56 per cent, N = 25) respondents did not give handwriting as homework. Teachers valued occupational therapy advice, individualised programmes and ongoing consultation during implementation. Interest in occupational therapy education regarding handwriting was reported. Practical implications Occupational therapy collaboration to address handwriting difficulties for children with ASD should include involvement in teacher education, coordination of teacher–parent collaboration and the need for involvement in early intervention provision within an emergent literacy framework. Originality/value Handwriting development is challenging for children with ASD. There is limited information on teaching or teacher–occupational therapy collaborative practices to address handwriting difficulties of children with ASD.

The importance of family involvement in education is well documented, yet no studies have explored teachers’ conceptualization of family involvement for urban English Language Learner (ELL) students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) classrooms. We used an ethnographic approach to investigate middle school STEM educators’ perspectives on family involvement for Spanish-speaking ELL students. The analysis revealed that the participants recognized barriers to involvement for families of ELL students, yet maintained that families should communicate more and help with homework. One participant’s practices and expectations served as a contradiction to these patterns. Implications and recommendations for P-12 school policy and teacher education are emphasized.

Prioritizing student voice, this study investigated the perspectives of undergraduate students in relation to their preferences and priorities for how they desired to experience teaching and learning. While not experts, our assumption was that undergraduate students, because of their relatively long experience as students, would be closely in touch with how they preferred to learn. Employing a mixed method, randomly selected students (N=291 of 3,000) completed a brief online survey, and we followed with qualitative focus groups and individual interviews in order to confirm the quantitative data and deepen our understanding of the student perspective. Findings pointed toward particular student preferences and priorities for: teacher behaviors like caring, passion, and enthusiasm, the communication of clear expectations, course alignment between course content taught and tests, a desire for more real-world applications, and active learning opportunities, all of which, in turn, were generally linked by students to their improved attention, intensity of focus, and ability to engage both in the classroom and during homework.

Abstract. Despite the considerable number of studies dealing with the semiotic aspects of education, none show the full semiotic potential of pedagogical education. This study presents the hierarchies of sign systems and their application in the training and development of future teachers. The use of A.B. Solomonik’s pyramid of sign systems to determine the semiotic potential of pedagogical education is particularly relevant. In this context, two goals of pedagogical training are considered. The first one is to use the sign systems of the given classification to identify the contents of the subject mastered by future teachers and use them for pedagogical interaction. In this case, semiotic research is developed in three directions: the semiotics of visualization of the content of school subjects; semiotics of visualization of the teaching process based on modern possibilities of technical means of education and information and communication technologies; and semiotics of pedagogical communication (internal and external). The second goal defines the prospects for using the presented semiotic pyramid for cultivating a general professional culture for student teachers. However, as a science, education does not have formalized first and second-order systems within the given classification. In this study, stereotypes (perceptions, images, behaviors) that determine the dynamics of a future teacher’s education and development function as units of sign systems. The development of stereotypes of pedagogical culture in future teachers determines their professional and personal progress, and the emergence and dynamics of innovative solutions. The characteristics of the four-level sign systems are given 1) Natural Sign Systems. These are elementary representations of interaction between student and teacher, reflecting life experiences made before the beginning of professional education. 2) Image Systems. These are stereotypes about the school education system held by applicants to the pedagogical universities. Stereotypes have both positive and negative characteristics. 3) Linguistic Systems. Verbal texts contain theoretical information about a particular area of professional culture and presuppose that each student acquires it individually (lecture material, traditional learning assignments, homework). A semiotic model of learning is manifested. The teacher gives a theoretical introduction to pedagogical paradigms – meta stereotypes of pedagogical perceptions and behaviors through language systems. 4) Writing systems. This level of sign systems includes written texts (documents) reflecting pedagogical systems and technologies, educational programs, and standards. A certain role in the formation of stereotypes among teachers is played at this level by the lists of competencies and professional functions defined by educational and professional standards. A different approach to personal and professional development implies a practice-oriented educational system developed through the continuous exercise of job-related tasks. In this sense, teacher training should reflect professional activity with the broader perspectives of synergy.

The purpose of this research was to examine the experiences of teachers, students, and parents on homework purpose and student feedback in primary school. The qualitative methodology was adopted for this research. This qualitative study used data from 20 teachers, 20 students, and 20 parents of the fifth-grade primary school in four municipalities of Kosovo. Data were collected through semistructured interviews and were analyzed through the thematic analysis method. The research results provided an overview of the reality of the way teachers approached homework. Research showed that there was a lack of a general standard, in almost all schools, related to homework assignments and there was a lack of teachers’ professional development for homework planning. Also, this research showed that the purpose of homework was closely related to how teachers planned and understood the role of homework, as well as how teachers built collaboration with students.

Designing language syllabus is one of the important processes in the English language teaching contexts. Ensuring both teachers and students’ needs what and how their teaching and learning are applicable, negotiated syllabus can be proposed in teaching-learning processes. This study aims to find the teachers' and students' perspectives to determine whether aspects of the syllabus may be negotiable. Qualitative descriptive is used in this research. The participants involved were four English teachers and twenty students. Data were collected by using a questionnaire in the form of open-ended questions. The syllabus aspects that may be interested to negotiate according to Boon (2011) are course content, lesson aims, sequencing, material, homework, evaluation, methodology, groupings, and error correction. Both teachers and students believe the eleven areas could be negotiated. However, there are some debates in several areas. According to some teachers’ perspectives, the area of material, homework, evaluation, and error correction are not needed to be negotiated. Besides, according to some students, the area of course content, lesson aim, sequencing, material, grouping, and error correction are the teachers’ responsibilities.

The role of homework in students’ academic achievement has become matter of discussion for the decades. In this sphere, this research tried to investigate the role of homework in students’ academic achievement from learners’ perspectives with sequential explanatory mixed research design. Survey questionnaire and unstructured interview were used as the tools of data collection and 400 secondary level students from both public and institutional schools from a district of Nepal were the sample population. Two datasets; quantitative and qualitative were collected and analyzed sequentially. The findings of the research reveal that homework can enhance students’ academic achievement but the traditional type and amount of homework assigned, and the less support from their teachers and parents promote plagiarism and demotivate learners in doing it for their own sake. The findings suggest that homework should be for students’ leaning which is possible when they are intrinsically motivated in doing it.

This qualitative-phenomenological study was initiated to explore and understand the lived experiences and different perceptions of parents on no-homework policy in Nangan Elementary School, Nangan, Governor Generoso, Davao Oriental. Subsequently, this qualitative exploration hoped to draw out conclusions on the perceptions of the parents. The data source in this study derived from seven (7) research participants for the in-depth interview and another seven (7) parents for the focus group discussion. The research participants of this study were the selected Grade Five to Grade Six parents in Nangan Elementary School who were usually having many assignments compared to lower grade levels. The following themes emerged from analysis based in the perspectives of participant interviews: no-homework policy can be optional; no-homework policy is unfavorable and unhelpful to students; no-homework policy causes students to become irresponsible; and no-homework policy causes less learning among students. Concerning the experiences of parents in dealing with the assignments of their children, five major themes were manifested such as: having difficulties in answering homework; being able to help children; having fun while doing the assignment; being unable to finish work or chores; and bonding opportunity. Moreover, the participants about their challenges in dealing with the assignments of their children, four major themes emerged: understanding how to answer the lesson; having balance and time management; giving encouragement; and having follow-ups and rules. Lastly, their suggestions as regards the no-homework policy revealed four emergent themes: parents should always be responsible and helpful to their children; parents should have time management and balance; teachers should give appropriate, simple and uncostly homework; and teachers should give homework to students for continued learning.

The paper deals with examining the opinions of the seventh and eighth-grade students on school, learning and of their rapport towards doing homework. The research included 286 students of seventh and eighth grade in four elementary schools in Serbia. The data were collected via survey method and processed using the SPSS software package. The questionnaire was the instrument used in the research, and descriptive-analytical method was used for data interpretation. The research results demonstrate that students with excellent academic performance show a high level of responsibility concerning regular studying, whilst students with good and satisfactory academic performance do not. Likewise, the students with excellent academic performance to a greater extent perceive studying as a positive activity, in comparison to the students with poorer academic performance. A positive correlation of medium intensity was recorded between the variables of regular studying and doing homework regularly. However, the percentage of students who stated they did not do their homework regularly due to the lack of motivation, homework overload or insufficiently clear expectations is not negligible. They describe school as a well-equipped, safe and stimulating environment with strict teachers. This research contributes to the understanding of the role of school from the perspective of the students atswhom the goals of school studying are directed.

It is important to determine the behaviors of primary school pre-service teachers, who have successfully completed the "Mathematics Textbook Review" course during their undergraduate education, regarding the use of textbooks in their professional life. Therefore, it is important to determine the approaches of pre-service teachers who have positive ideas about using the mathematics textbook in their undergraduate education and the reasons for these approaches in the process after starting the profession. This research was designed with a developmental perspective from qualitative research approaches and was conducted with two different study groups in Turkey. The first study group consists of 162 primary school mathematics pre-service teachers. The second group consists of 43 primary school mathematics teachers who worked for at least two years in their professional life. As a result of the research, more than half of the pre-service teachers (n=132) stated that they would use textbooks as a basic resource in the in-class teaching process. Pre-service teachers' reasons for using the course book in the classroom teaching process were grouped under four categories: "it is a guide for teaching, homework, affordability, and opportunity for repetition". When the data obtained from the mathematics teachers were examined, it was determined that most of the teachers did not use the textbook as the main source in the classroom teaching process. When the obtained data are examined holistically, it is concluded that even though the rate of pre-service teachers thinking of using the textbook is high, this rate will decrease in professional life. Keywords: Pre-service teachers, mathematics teacher, mathematics textbook, developmental perspective

Mathematics Instruction is assuming a new direction that includes a new perspective on assessment. Instruction and assessment cannot be separated, since what is assessed conveys to students what is important, and how that learning is assessed must be congruent to the method and emphasis of instruction. Much of formal mathematics evaluation and grading relies on assessing a student's product, such as a paper-and-pencil test or homework. Informally, teachers assess students' processes just as much as, or more than, their products. When the process and product aspects are combined, mathematics evaluation might be described as perfonnance assessment, in which the teacher observes a student carrying out a process and evaluates the student's performance as well as the product. If the majority of mathematics evaluation is asswned to be a type of performance assessment, the challenge becomes to establish performance criteria including the specific behaviors, products, and qualities of a student's work.

The study identified the assessment practices used in an Egyptian EFL writing course at university and explored teachers and students’ perspectives of these assessment practices. The focus was on the assessment practices to inform and propose appropriate implications. This study is informed by social constructivism where knowledge is constructed socially through the perceptions of different participants. Eight students and eight EFL writing teachers were interviewed, and three EFL writing classes were observed. Findings revealed that writing assessment is important to both teachers and students. Diagnosing students’ writing was done rarely and superficially, using a non-standardised assessment. Reported formative assessment practices include attendance, homework, samples of students’ writing, class participation, assignments, and oral presentation. Stereotypical final exams were reported as the only summative assessment practice. Finally, the assessment criteria and the analytical scoring method were not communicated to students. Observed EFL writing classes mostly confirmed students’ perspectives about the reported practices. Implications and suggestions are provided.

Despite numerous studies on the sudden need to switch from conventional classroom-based education to e-learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, general agreement on the method’s efficacy, advantages, disadvantages, challenges, and opportunities has not yet been reached. Investigating the perspectives of a wide range of teachers on this subject is therefore important. This study investigates the perspectives of English language teachers who use the Madrasati online teaching platform in secondary and intermediate schools. Its data was gathered via a questionnaire survey which was distributed to 24 male and female teachers. The findings showed that, while most teachers’ initial response to online learning was negative, over time, their views became more positive. The teachers reported that the Madrasati platform built pupils’ independence and provided major advantages to the educational system. It made marking homework faster and more efficient and facilitated communication with school administrators and pupils’ parents and helped the personal development of teachers and pupils. The study found that the Madrasati platform provided opportunities for self-education, learner autonomy, and acquiring English outside the conventional face-to-face classrooms which can be built upon.

Abstract The present study adopts a quantitative design to explore the effects of pre-designed teachers’ questions as the mediation tool to scaffold the development of students’ critical thinking and their discourse level writing skills in English from a sociocultural perspective. The participants were 39 sophomores from two classes. The results showed that: (1) teachers’ questions targeting specific critical thinking skill in the classroom and in after-class conferences, as well as in written homework feedback were effective; (2) students backslid a little while internalizing teachers’ questions concerning critical thinking; (3) students improved reliably in terms of local and global coherence in their written production with the help of teachers’ questions. The findings indicate that teachers’ questions facilitate students’ development of critical thinking and enhance their discourse level writing skill.

Objectives – To explore how students use the school library in their daily activities, who visits the school library, what activities occur during these visits, and how students value the school library. Design – Comparative, multi-case study. Setting – Two Norwegian senior high schools in two different counties. Subjects – Students in year one, two, and three at two high schools; and teachers, principals, and school librarians at each of the two schools. Methods – Data was collected from interviews, observations, documents, and questionnaires during the first five months of 1998. Most data was gathered from 25 observations in the school library (each observation was 3-4 hours in length). Observations were made in three specific areas of each library: work tables, the computer site, and a reading hall quiet area. In addition, seventeen 45-minute observations were made in various classrooms. To gain student perspectives and to learn how and why students valued the school library, in-depth interviews were conducted with 28 students, consisting of 2 boys and 2 girls from each of years 1, 2, and 3 at each school, plus 2 boys and 2 girls from the International Baccalaureate classes at one school. Four teachers from each school, the school librarians, and the principals from each school were also interviewed to explore attitudes about the school library, how they valued it and what instructional role they believed the library played in students’ daily lives. Sixty students completed questionnaires that asked when and for what reason students used the library, what locations in the library they used, and what the library meant to them in both their schoolwork and free time. Documents such as class schedules and curricula, and school policies and rules were also considered. Main Results – Data analysis indicated students had a lot of appreciation for the school library, but mainly for its role as a “social meeting place,” rather than as resource center for information. Students were aware of the function, purpose, and importance of the school library, but rarely used it for projects or research. The library was most appreciated for the fact that users went there to meet friends and talk. One observed group did not borrow books or bring work to do, clearly demonstrating that their purpose in the library was strictly social. There were students who used the library for research and information retrieval, but these students were the minority. Most of the students who did instruction-related activities in the library did homework from textbooks they brought to the library. There was no indication that teachers or the school librarians made any efforts to alter the attitudes of students or their use of the library as a social club. Based on observations, the researcher offered several possible reasons for her findings: weak rules and few sanctions, invisibility of the school librarians, failure of teachers to use the library or make assignments that required information seeking, and lack of a cafeteria in School A (which may have also contributed to the value of the library as a “meeting place”). Leisure-related activities in the quiet reading hall were highest among the girls, and highest among the boys at the work tables and computer sites. Daily users (occupants) of the library at School A were second and third year boys and girls. Only boys from first, second and third year vocational classes were “occupants” at School B. The occupants at both schools influenced the activities of new users. Conclusion – The findings of this study reveal a “gap between the rhetoric on instruction and school library use and actual practice” (pg.12). Students were rarely given assignments that required use of the library and there was no collaboration between the classroom teachers and the school librarian. The library was not perceived as a resource center and was not viewed as an integral part of daily instruction. Weak rules, few sanctions, misperceptions, and inadequate instructional leadership by the school librarian appeared to contribute to the observed behaviors related to library use in the two schools. The author suggests the need for organization, leadership, and the proper training of students on the use of the library. She mentions the need for principals, teachers, librarians, students, and teacher preparatory colleges to work hand-in-hand to bring about a change of attitude about – and usage of – the school library.

This study aimed to determine the increase in students’ engagement in English language learning through the use of song lyrics. The study was conducted in a cycle of five sessions. The study design was a Classroom Action Research (CAR) of 35 XI MIPA 4 students at SMA Negeri 2 Tualang. The instruments of this study were observation sheets and interviews. From the findings, the researchers found an increase in students’ engagement, which was characterized by more enthusiasm in teaching and learning, like collecting more homework and being on time in online learning, asking more questions, and answering the teacher's questions. At the same time, the interview results indicated that several factors affecting the active participation in online classrooms were interesting media and easy song lyrics. The English teachers, referring to students’ perspectives, were able to improve students’ engagement and interest. To conclude, the teacher’s strategy in the use of song lyric is able to make students actively participated in the online classroom and make the teaching atmosphere more lively.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, students and instructors had to carry out lessons with distance education practices, and this sudden change made it a necessity to reorganize educational processes under the conditions of the pandemic. This study sought to make an undergraduate course more effective by designing the distance education course based on the flipped learning model. In this qualitative study, a phenomenological approach was used, and 53 preservice elementary school teachers’ views on the flipped distance education course were investigated. Exploration of student errors during in-class activities, encouragement of active student participation, and compatibility to individual student differences was listed as positive aspects of the flipped distance education. On the other hand, the difficulties pre-service elementary school teachers encountered in obtaining information, their concerns about attending the class or discussing the homework in front of their peers, and the issues experienced during in-class communication were identified as the negative features of this approach. Moreover, the preservice elementary school teachers needed easily accessible information resources about the course content, a stable internet connection, appropriate technological equipment, and extension of the course time to effectively perform in the flipped distance education course. As a result, the flipped teaching model emerged as an effective approach to increase the efficiency of distance education courses, especially during the COVID-19 crisis.

The pandemic situation brought significant changes regarding the teaching activities, led to the emergency transition to the online system and with it, multiple challenges, both for teachers and students.The students, the main beneficiaries of the online lectures and seminar activities, understood that they have a greater responsibility in learning than before they had and that if they are not fully involved in teaching activities, they will not be able to achieve the desired results. In this context, we considered it necessary to identify and analyze the students' perspective in relation to their experience related to the online school. Thus, a micro-research was carried out, the purpose of which is to analyze the students' opinions regarding the lectures, respectively the online seminars during the pandemic, related to the following aspects: the vertical and horizontal educational relations; the teaching strategies used during classes, the seminars; the students 'access to support materials, the emotional feelings and students' motivation, the difficulties encountered during the period in which the lectures and seminars took place online. The main research method was the questionnaire survey. The target group consisted of students from Valahia University of Târgoviște, Faculty of Political Sciences, Letters and Communication, from all years of study, undergraduate and master's degree programs. The results show that students are aware of both the limits of online teaching activities (stress, numerous tasks and homework, connection issues, etc.), but also their benefits (quick and easy access to information resources, development of digital skills, participation in teaching activities from the comfort of your own home, etc.).

Abstract. The present study explored multilevel variance for a range of salient psycho-educational factors in mathematics. With a sample of 4,383 students (Years 5–8) in 257 classrooms and 47 schools, data indicated patterns of variance across the selection of psycho-educational factors. For all factors, the bulk of variance resided at the student (and residual) level. In ascending order of upper-level variance were motivation, perceived motivational ‘climate’, homework completion, teacher-student relationships, and achievement – with motivation and perceived ‘climate’ yielding very little upper-level variance. Hence, although there is usually a hierarchical structure in which psycho-educational factors are situated, there is variation in patterns of multilevel variance across the range of factors. In exploring a range of psycho-educational phenomena from a multilevel perspective, the present study offers further direction for researchers selecting and operationalizing psycho-educational phenomena in multilevel research. Implications for pedagogy, classroom climate, and separating teaching effects from teacher effects and schooling effects from school effects are also discussed.

This study deals with the effort of obtaining information about aspects of practicality or implementation of lesson plans and local content textbooks, the quality of textbooks, and the responds of teachers and students toward local content and its application at the school in Babar island. The research was conducted at Babar State High School 1 using descriptive analytical method. Data was collected using observation and questionnaire techniques. Observations were made to obtain information related to the implementation of classroom learning. The questionnaire was used to explore teachers and students perspective about textbooks. The research results indicate that learning activities happened smoothly. The quality of the textbook used is quite good and has a good level of readability. The response of teachers and students to teaching books is highly positive. The teaching material provided is in accordance with the needs of the school, especially students. The enthusiasm of students is seen in the whole learning activities, both in face to face and in completing tasks (homework).

The recitation technique involves assigning homework to students to increase their grasp and knowledge of the material. The relationship between Islam and science can be viewed from various perspectives. Teachers have a crucial responsibility to help students comprehend how Islam and science are incorporated into one another to generate an adequate education. Consequently, a suitable approach is required. This study looked at integrating Islam and science using the recitation learning method. The method is a literature review that involves gathering a number of pertinent journal articles and books to conclude. The findings demonstrate that, in theory, Islam and science can be combined using the recitation learning approach. The integration of Islam and science is better understood by students using this teaching strategy.

Foreign language teaching is one field that is changing and being updated to meet the needs of learners and recent advances lead to consider new perspectives, directions and approaches. As an example of blended learning, flipped classrooms have gained prominence in recent years owing to the interest in crucial impacts of online and learner-centred learning on foreign language learning process. Traditional teaching process is reversed which means that class time is dedicated to homework and activities whereas learners construct their own knowledge at home. In a flipped class, learners are encouraged to improve their critical thinking skills and evaluate their own learning since teachers take a role as a coach and mentor in this process. On the other hand, in a traditional class, the content of the lesson is delivered by the teachers directly and learners are passive receivers of the knowledge in the classroom. Keywords: Biotechnology, teaching biotechnology, thematic content analysis, analysis of articles, academic achievement.

Purpose - The Malaysian government has allocated a large budget for Orang Asli primary school education via the Department of Orang Asli Development (JAKOA) to help improve Orang Asli pupils’ academic performance including mathematics. Teachers face challenges in ensuring that Orang Asli pupils become competent learners of mathematics. Hence, this study examined the teachers’ perspectives on the issues and challenges in the teaching and learning of mathematics at Orang Asli primary schools in Malaysia. Methodology - In this qualitative study, Two Orang Asli primary schools were randomly selected from eight primary schools within an Orang Asli Settlement in the District of Sungai Siput. The data were collected via focus group discussions and interviews, which were carried out during enculturation visits and were fully transcribed and thematically analysed. The research participants were purposively selected and comprised the schools’ administrators and mathematics teachers. Findings - The results of the data analysis showed that there were two main themes, namely classroom challenges and school challenges, in determining mathematics competence among Orang Asli pupils. Classroom challenges consisted of five sub-themes namely coverage of mathematics syllabus, mathematics teaching and learning resources, pupil engagement, language barrier, and mathematics learning culture. School challenges consisted of two sub-themes namely school attendance and discipline. To enhance mathematics competence among Orang Asli pupils, it is deemed important to conduct programmes and community engagement. Significance - This study contributes to the knowledge of the teaching and learning of mathematics at Orang Asli primary schools. It is recommended that teachers allow Orang Asli pupils to take home their mathematics textbooks so that they can complete their homework at home. Teachers are highly encouraged to conduct mathematics teaching and learning activities in groups to develop meaningful and engaging lessons.

<p>This study intends to apply scaffolding theory to the teaching of English subjunctive mood in senior high schools. After reviewing the researches about scaffolding theory and some studies related to English grammar teaching, the author puts forward a real lesson plan for subjunctive mood teaching, which includes the analysis of teaching material, teaching aims, teaching key point and difficult points, teaching method and the most important, teaching procedures. During the teaching procedures, the author tries to analyze every step, namely, lead-in, presentation and observation, discovery, practice, production, summary and homework, and after-class reflection, from the perspective of scaffoldings the teacher has given to students. The final finding shows that scaffolding can stimulate students’ interest in learning, and improve their ability of independent and cooperative learning. On the whole, the practice of applying scaffolding theory can be encouraged in English grammar teaching.</p>

<div><p><em>This study explored the influence of an ecological perspective on the parental involvement on secondary school pupil’s academic</em><strong> </strong><em>performance. It was influenced by Urie Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory. A qualitative research was adopted through an interpretivist paradigm. The research participants comprised of two teachers and five parents. The research instrument used was the one to one interviews with the both the teachers and the parents. A thematic data analysis was used to analyse data solicited from the research participants. Findings from the teachers revealed that some parents were partially involved in the learning of their pupils and some pupils were found not to be doing their homework. Ultimately, this derailed the whole learning process. In addition diverse sentiments were outlined by the parents including the claim that it was the teachers’ obligation to ensure that children were consistently assisted by the teachers. Their argument was based on the understanding that parents are paying full fees, therefore they expect the best out of their money. Some parents indicated that, as much as they would want to assist their children, they are to some extent incapacitated The researcher recommended that if the parents are unable to assist their children, they should find other means to do so . The same applies with teachers who are encouraged to reconsider ways of assisting children who cannot get parental assistance.</em><strong></strong></p></div>

Under the outbreak of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the philosophy of &ldquo;Ideological and Political Theories Education in all Courses (IPTEC)&rdquo; by China&rsquo;s Ministry of Education, college curriculum reform has become a pressing issue in both form and content. Oral English course is characterized with flexible organization and a wide selection of teaching materials, thus closely related to the shaping of college students&rsquo; values. An online teaching mode of oral English featuring &ldquo;DingTalk + WeChat Group + FiF&rdquo; is proposed after a mining of &ldquo;ideological and political elements&rdquo;, with the sophomore oral English course of School of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine as a case. The highlights of this mode are as follows. First, all links of the teaching design are permeated with ideological and political elements, which realizes the blending of explicit and implicit educations. Second, it supports teacher-to-student and student-to-student voice interactions in a multi-party manner at any time. Third, a complex is created where one online classroom is systematically nested in another among the various platforms. Fourth, group and single games enrich the organization of the classroom. Fifth, it provides private and convenient classroom and homework management.

Audience members sit at tables and desks in an interactive classroom, an immersive performance space designed to evoke a K–12 classroom. Blackboards are covered with homework assignments and test reminders, posters with test-taking tips and motivational quotes such as “For success, attitude is as important as ability.” Collaboraction's production of Forgotten Future: The Education Project begins as an interracial, intergenerational ensemble of actors enters the space chanting and waving signs reading “Support our Schools: Don't Close Them” and “Save our Schools” in protest of Chicago's dysfunctional public school system. They wear red T-shirts, and several are clad in the real-life protest T-shirts worn during the school closure protests and the teachers' strike during the 2012–13 school year. The audience soon claps and chants along: “There's no power like the power of the people and the power of the people don't stop” (clap, clap). Adult actors playing parents and teachers give speeches in between the chants. The kids in the ensemble try to speak, but the adults run right over them. By the end of the rally, the kids are standing off in a corner of the space, forlorn and ignored, while the adults yell on their behalf without ever asking for their perspective.

The aim of this study is to examine the 7th graders' perceptions over the workbook for social studies course. Of the qualitative research designs, the phenomenology design was used in the research. The data was collected through the semi-structured interview form developed by the researcher. Within the scope of the research, 93 7th graders from 3 different schools in Adıyaman were interviewed. The working group of the research was determined through the easy accessible case sampling method. The collected data was analyzed through the descriptive analysis technique. In the research most of the students (75.24%) were found out to have negative perspective on the workbook for social studies course for the 7th grade. It was revealed that the students find activities in the workbook boring and do not want to do the activities. It was concluded that activities in the workbook were mostly assigned as homework for the students by their teachers. It can be said that teachers' negative attitudes and statements about workbooks contribute to students' not taking this important course material seriously. It was discovered that the workbooks which should be used with course subjects together in the classroom are used to give performance grades. It can be said that combination of course books and workbooks can increase effectiveness of these books.

The purpose of this study was to explore vocational teachers’ understanding about the strategies and methods that need to be applied to strengthen students’ employability skills and the strategies and methods they are applying presently in vocational schools. In addition, this study also looked for the factors that hinder to strengthen the employability skills of vocational graduates and the factors that prevents updating curricula at school. This qualitative study used the primary data collected through focus group discussion. The perspective of 56 vocational teachers was detailed with the help of the following research questions: (i) what strategies should be applied to enhance the employability skills?, (ii) what strategies you normally apply intending to enhance employability skills of the vocational students?, and (iii) what factors prevent you to update curricula and to apply strategies that enhance employability skills of students? The finding revealed the vocational teachers of Nepal believe learner centered strategies, work integrated learning, placing students in incubation center, community outreach program and teaching methods such as small group activities and presentation, role play, project and problem-solving activities, simulation, field/industry visit and case study help strengthening employability skills. The vocational teachers of Nepal used to apply the teaching methods and approaches such as visualized lecture, questioning, discussion and demonstration, small group works, project and problem-solving works, homework and practice opportunities. The finding also revealed that time, resource, teachers’ own competencies, over workload, and the system of implementing vocational curricula in Nepal restrict them to use teaching strategies and methods that strengthen employability skills of students. The finding surge Nepal to shift the paradigm from class-room based theoretical learning practices to workplace-based learning practices such as apprenticeship programs, provide some sort of flexibility in curricula and enhance the active engagement of employers at each and every step of vocational learning practice

Summary In April 2021 the “common welfare oriented sports club culture” has been awarded by German UNESCO intangible cultural heritage (ICH). To maintain this award, there has to be a future vision for the immaterial cultural heritage in terms of inclusive, equal opportunity, high-quality education. In Germany, sports clubs cooperate with (primary) schools in after-school programmes, often organized by the school (ASPO). However, offers of sports clubs are understood as offers for pastime and day-care, on the contrary, offers of other partner of cooperation are regarded as offers of education. During Corona crises grassroots sports in Germany was forbidden and more than that, ASPO and PE were cancelled immediately, with consequences e.g. for common welfare and health. “Existing concepts no longer work!” (Pühse, oral comment Bratislava 2021). P.E. teachers experimented with homework, but failed. However, exercise instructors and coaches came up with new motivating ideas and sports clubs seem to take over the role of high-quality education. Can the UNESCO award be part of a creative change not only for sports club culture but also for ASPO and excessively so to understanding PE in its multi-perspective? Let´s finally consider it in a future workshop, based on scenario, which reflects the relevant developments.

The article considers Kahoot! as a universal tool for creating interactive online tests that allows to make tasks with multimedia content, use existing and upload personal illustrations, audio and video fragments. The features of using Kahoot! in distance learning in learning foreign language for specific purposes are analysed. The advantages of interactive tests as a means of gamification of the educational process are determined. Examples of the use of kahoots at different stages of training and a description of the process of organizing work on the platform is given, the possibility of conducting group online competitions, the use of tests as homework and individual-independent assignments in the discipline of foreign language for specific purposes is shown. The article proves that interactive tests in foreign language for specific purposes on Kahoot! can be used in distance learning in universities for consolidation, repetition, control of students' knowledge, expansion of vocabulary, improvement of language skills, analysis and correction of the knowledge gained. It has been found that online interactive games diverse educational process, make it interesting, dynamic and efficient. The perspective of the study is to conduct trainings and master classes for teachers on the formation of skills and techniques for working with software tools and services for assignment creation with gamification elements in studying language for specific purposes.

Background and aim More autistic young people are being educated in mainstream schools. While existing research suggests that the outcomes of mainstream inclusion are mixed for autistic young people, few studies have examined their views and experiences directly. This article discusses the educational experiences of 12 autistic young people (aged 11–17 years) from their perspectives and how education could be improved to better support the others with autism. Methods A flexible qualitative participatory approach was used which incorporated a range of methods, including individual semi-structured interviews, diamond ranking activities and draw-and-tell activities. A Children’s Research Advisory Group (CRAG) advised on the methods used and matters to be explored. Results The young people offered insights into how education has been for them in mainstream school, mostly negative, but with islets of positive experience. Several described themselves as being socially, emotionally and physically isolated from peers, with loneliness and bullying experienced by some. Participants felt unsupported and misunderstood by teachers within a social and sensory environment that was antithetical to their needs. Some spoke of the dread they felt before and during school and the negative impact their experiences in mainstream has had on their wellbeing. Many participants suggested simple strategies and curriculum adaptations that they felt would have helped make their time at mainstream more successful. These include having more breaks, smaller class sizes, less homework, instructions broken down, safe places to use when anxious and teachers who listen to their concerns and take account of their needs. In short they want to be understood, supported and included. Conclusions There exists scope to better support autistic young people in mainstream education, as evidenced by the literature and the participants in this paper. The participants demonstrate that mainstream is not working for all and that changes, such as smaller class sizes, flexible pedagogy and understanding could improve education for autistic learners. Implications Autistic young people can and should be central to the discussion on school improvement. They also show that being academically able for mainstream school should not be the only aspect when deciding on the suitability of mainstream school for meeting their needs. The young person’s social and emotional wellbeing must be considered to ensure they can flourish, and not flounder.

BackgroundPrevious studies of the effect of school-based interventions to improve healthy behaviours have had important limitations.ObjectiveTo investigate the effectiveness of a school-based intervention to increase physical activity, reduce sedentary behaviour and increase fruit and vegetable consumption.DesignCluster randomised controlled trial.SettingSixty English primary schools.ParticipantsChildren in year 4 (aged 8–9 years) at recruitment, year 5 (aged 9–10 years) during the intervention and immediate follow-up and year 6 (aged 10–11 years) during 1 year of follow-up.InterventionActive for Life Year 5 (AFLY5) included teacher training, lesson plans, materials for 16 lessons, parent-interactive homework and written materials for school newsletters and parents.Main outcome measuresPrimary outcome measures included accelerometer-assessed levels of physical activity and sedentary behaviour, and child-reported consumption of fruit and vegetables. Secondary outcome measures included child-reported screen viewing; consumption of snacks, high-fat food and high-energy drinks; body mass index; and waist circumference.ResultsWe recruited 60 schools (2221 children). At the immediate follow-up, no difference was found between children in intervention and control schools for any of the three primary outcomes. The intervention was effective on three of the nine secondary outcomes; children in intervention schools reported spending less time screen viewing at weekends [–21 minutes per day, 95% confidence interval (CI) –37 to –4 minutes per day], eating fewer servings of snacks per day (–0.22, 95% CI –0.38 to –0.05 servings of snacks per day) and drinking fewer servings of high-energy drinks per day (–0.26, 95% CI –0.43 to –0.10 servings of high-energy drinks per day) than the children in control schools. The results remained consistent 1 year later. The intervention increased children’s perception of maternal efforts to limit the time they spent screen viewing and children’s knowledge about healthy physical activity and fruit and vegetable consumption, with these two mediators explaining approximately one-quarter of the effect of the intervention on screen viewing. The intervention did not affect other mediators. The cost of implementing the intervention from a provider perspective was approximately £18 per child. Process evaluation showed that AFLY5 was implemented with a high degree of fidelity. Teachers supported the aims of AFLY5, but their views of the programme itself were mixed.LimitationsResponses to parental questionnaires for the economic evaluation were low and we struggled to engage all teachers for the process evaluation. Although the participating schools included a range of levels of socioeconomic deprivation, class sizes and rural and urban settings, we cannot assume that results generalise to all primary schools.ConclusionsAFLY5 is not effective at increasing levels of physical activity, reducing sedentary behaviour and increasing fruit and vegetable consumption in primary school children, but may be effective in reducing time spent screen viewing at weekends and the consumption of snacks and high-energy drinks.Future workOur findings suggest that school-based interventions are unlikely to have a major impact on promoting healthy levels of physical activity and healthy diets in primary school children. We would recommend trials of the effect and cost-effectiveness of more intensive family and community interventions.Trial registrationCurrent Controlled Trials ISRCTN50133740.FundingThis project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research Public Health Research programme and will be published in full inPublic Health Research; Vol. 4, No. 7. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.

The concept of complex psychological adaptation of first-year students for student life is presented. Theories of adaptability of adolescents and adolescents and the concept of their adaptation to new minds of life and activity are generalized. The results of the empirical study of the individual-psychological qualities of the freshmen, the features of their social interaction and academic motivation are described. The experience of the psychological support of the process of adaptation of students who are internally displaced to study at a university is analyzed. Their true personal and character peculiarities, ways of adapting to the situation and responding to adverse influences from the external environment are determined. The perspective circle of researches in the field of psychological support and support of internally displaced students is outlined. Adaptation to learning has been found to be a complex process of learning the norms and rules of an educational institution, forging friendships with one-groupers, and for constructive relationships with teachers; development of strategies of educational activity and initial activity. The article determines that the adaptation of internally displaced first-year students to study should come as an active tertiary adaptation of students to the higher education institutions, in the process of developing students' skills and ability to organize their understanding, and life, the system of working with professional self-education and self-education of professionally significant qualities of personality. It has been found that the process of adaptation to university education is a complex system of transformations that occur with a person in accordance with changes in the minds of existence. The beginning of a student's life is connected with numerous social changes; replacement of existing attitudes and stereotypes; stressful situations. For some students, this can lead to the substitution of a real sense of adulthood by activities such as freedom to attend classes, unsystematic homework, and so on. All of this can, over time, be transformed into a reluctance to study, attend a school, and participate in one's social life.

The purpose of this paper is to point out the key challenges faced by school students. In line with this aim the researcher has done a thematic research methodology, through personal experiences from childhood, working as a school advisor and reviewing literatures to collect detailed information concerning school student’s challenges. After finding the valid sources the researcher has found that the most worrying challenges are sexual abuses by elder students and gangsters, conflict on the way of school, long distance to get to the school, gender discrimination between boys and girls in the families, bombing and attacks on schools, poverty, bulling and teasing, Case of (Afghanistan). Furthermore, overcrowded classrooms, poor equipment’s and lack of experienced teachers regarding recognition of the specific talents of different students and failing them in exams are another challenges on the way of school students. Moreover, illiteracy of parents and lack of help regarding their homework’s, family conflicts and it is effects on the child are part of difficulties faced by school students. Also, climate change, cultural differences, loneliness and communication problems are another uphill’s for migrant students in international schools in a foreign country, case of foregone students in (India). Likewise, lack of school opportunity, misguidance some of students with encouraging them to join to insurgent groups, and discrimination against illegal migrant families, case of 300 million Afghanistanian illegal migrants in Iran and Pakistan with no educational opportunities. In addition, physical punishment, religious discrimination and lack of free of thought against students of minorities are some big barriers on the way of studying in schools, case of (Iran). Finding also showed that smart phones and computers cause some of the students to waste their study time on playing games and face time management problem. Finally, carrying on offensive guns and using drags by some students which effects other students psychologically and increase the possibility of violence are the most serious challenges faced by school students. However, as it is such an international problem, for solution, the five multilateral institutions which are the key international stakeholders in the EFA movement: UNESCO, UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF and the World Bank, should take action against the above mentioned challenges. In the Indian context too similar challenges are daunting the Indian education sector. This paper attempts to highlight such challenges and ways of managing them from the perspective of the above mentioned key international stakeholders.

The cognitive specificity of social pedagogy is its interest in the issues related to social conditionings of human development and, respectively, the specific social conditionings of the upbringing process. The notion has been developed in various directions since the very beginning of the discipline, yet the most clearly visible area seems to be the functioning of individuals, families and broader environment. Simultaneously, it is possible to observe that the issues have been entangled in certain socio-political conditions, the knowledge of which is substantial for the reconstruction and identification of the research heritage of social pedagogy. All these interrelationships allowed to distinguish particular stages of development of social pedagogy. Contemporarily, it is a discipline with descent scientific achievements which marks out and indicates new perspectives both in the field of educational practice and the theory of social activity. Social pedagogy, similarly to other areas (subdisciplines) of pedagogy, deals with the notion of upbringing in a certain aspect – in a certain problem inclination. It specializes in social and environmental conditionings of the upbringing process. It is the thread of the social context of upbringing what proves to be the crucial, basic and fundamental determinant of upbringing and, thus, decisive factor for human development. This notion was always present in the general pedagogical thought however, its organized and rationalized character surfaced only when the social pedagogy was distinguished as a separate, systematic area of pedagogy. It occurred in Poland only at the beginning of the 19th century. From the very beginning the creators and precursors of this subdiscipline pointed out its relatively wide range. It has been the notion of individual – social conditionings of human development, yet, social pedagogists were interested in human at every stage of their lives i.e. childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age. Another area of interest were the issues related to family as the most important “place” of human development and, in this respect, the issues connected with institutions undertaking various activities: help, care, support and animation. Finally, the scope of interest included issues related to the environment as the place where the upbringing process is supposed to realize and realizes. Since the very beginning of social pedagogy these have been the prominent threads for exploration. At the same time it ought to be stated that these threads have always been interwoven with various social-political conditions both with regards to their interpretation as well as possible and planned educational practice. Therefore social pedagogy and its findings must be always “read” in the context of social-political conditions which accompanied the creation of a given thought or realization of some educational practice. As these conditions have constantly been undergoing certain transformations one may clearly distinguish particular stages of development of social pedagogy. The stages reflect various approaches to exploring and describing the above-mentioned areas of this discipline. Following the assumptions regarding the chronology of social pedagogy development and the three distinguished stages of development, it seems worthwhile to study how the issues related to an individual, family and environment were shaped at these stages. The first stage when the social psychology was arising was mainly the time of Helena Radlińska’s activities as well as less popular and already forgotten Polish pedagogists – precursors of this discipline such as: Anna Chmielewska, Irena Jurgielewiczowa, Zofia Gulińska or Maria Korytowska. In that period social pedagogists mainly dealt with individuals, families and the functioning of environments in the context of educational activities aimed at arousing national identity and consciousness. However, their work did no focus on indicating the layers of threats and deficits in functioning of individuals, social groups or families but on the possibilities to stimulate their development and cultural life. Therefore social pedagogy of those times was not as strongly related to social work as it currently is but dealt mainly with educational work. The classic example of such approach in the research carried out in the social pedagogy of that time may be the early works by Helena Radlińska who undertook the narrow field of cultural-educational work targeted to all categories of people. The works described such issues as the organization of libraries, organizing extra-school education (H. Orsza, 1922, H. Orsza-Radlińska, 1925). It ought to be stated that this kind of work was regarded as public and educational work, whereas currently it exists under the name of social work. Frequently quoted works related to the issues of arising social pedagogy were also the works by Eustachy Nowicki e.g. “Extra-school education and its social-educational role in the contemporary Polish life” from 1923 or the works by Stefania Sempołowska, Jerzy Grodecki or Jadwiga Dziubińska. Such an approach and tendencies are clearly visible in a book from 1913 (a book which has been regarded by some pedagogists as the first synthetic presentation of social pedagogy). It is a group work entitled “Educational work – its tasks, methods and organization” (T. Bobrowski, Z. Daszyńska-Golińska, J. Dziubińska, Z. Gargasa, M. Heilperna, Z. Kruszewska, L. Krzywicki, M. Orsetti, H. Orsza, St. Posner, M. Stępkowski, T. Szydłowski, Wł. Weychert-Szymanowska, 1913). The problem of indicated and undertaken research areas and hence, the topics of works realized by the social pedagogists of that times changed immediately after regaining independence and before World War II. It was the time when the area of social pedagogists interests started to include the issues of social inequality, poverty and, subsequently, the possibility of helping (with regards to the practical character of social pedagogy). The research works undertaken by social pedagogists were clearly of diagnostic, practical and praxeological character. They were aimed at seeking the causes of these phenomena with simultaneous identification and exploration of certain environmental factors as their sources. A classic example of such a paper – created before the war – under the editorial management of H. Radlińska was the work entitled “Social causes of school successes and failures” from 1937 (H. Radlińska, 1937). Well known are also the pre-war works written by the students of H. Radlińska which revealed diagnostic character such as: “The harm of a child” by Maria Korytowska (1937) or “A child of Polish countryside” edited by M. Librachowa and published in Warsaw in 1934 (M. Librachowa, 1934). Worthwhile are also the works by Czesław Wroczyński from 1935 entitled “Care of an unmarried mother and struggle against abandoning infants in Warsaw” or the research papers by E. Hryniewicz, J. Ryngmanowa and J. Czarnecka which touched upon the problem of neglected urban and rural families and the situation of an urban and rural child – frequently an orphaned child. As it may be inferred, the issues of poverty, inefficient families, single-parent families remain current and valid also after the World War II. These phenomena where nothing but an outcome of various war events and became the main point of interest for researchers. Example works created in the circle of social pedagogists and dealing with these issues may be two books written in the closest scientific environment of Helena Radlińska – with her immense editorial impact. They are “Orphanage – scope and compensation” (H. Radlińska, J. Wojtyniak, 1964) and “Foster families in Łódź” (A. Majewska, 1948), both published immediately after the war. Following the chronological approach I adopted, the next years mark the beginning of a relative stagnation in the research undertaken in the field of social pedagogy. Especially the 50’s – the years of notably strong political indoctrination and the Marxist ideological offensive which involved building the so called socialist educational society – by definition free from socio-educational problems in public life. The creation and conduction of research in this period was also hindered due to organizational and institutional reasons. The effect of the mentioned policy was also the liquidation of the majority of social sciences including research facilities – institutes, departments and units. An interesting and characteristic description of the situation may be the statement given by Professor J. Auletner who described the period from the perspective of development of social policy and said that: “During the Stalinist years scientific cultivation of social policy was factually forbidden”. During the period of real socialism it becomes truly difficult to explore the science of social policy. The name became mainly the synonym of the current activity of the state and a manifestation of struggles aimed at maintaining the existing status quo. The state authorities clearly wanted to subdue the science of social activities of the state […]. During the real socialism neither the freedom for scientific criticism of the reality nor the freedom of research in the field of social sciences existed. It was impossible (yet deliberated) to carry out a review of poverty and other drastic social issues” (J. Auletner, 2000). The situation changes at the beginning of the 60’s (which marks the second stage of development of social pedagogy) when certain socio-political transformations – on the one hand abandoning the limitation of the Stalinist period (1953 – the death of Stalin and political thaw), on the other – reinforcement of the idea of socialist education in social sciences lead to resuming environmental research. It was simultaneously the period of revival of Polish social pedagogy with regards to its institutional dimension as well as its ideological self-determination (M. Cichosz, 2006, 2014). The issues of individuals, families and environments was at that time explored with regards to the functioning of educational environments and in the context of exploring the environmental conditionings of the upbringing process. Typical examples here may be the research by Helena Izdebska entitled “The functioning of a family and childcare tasks” (H. Izdebska, 1967) and “The causes of conflicts in a family” (H. Izdebska, 1975) or research conducted by Anna Przecławska on adolescents and their participation in culture: “Book, youth and cultural transformations” (A. Przecławska, 1967) or e.g. “Cultural diversity of adolescents against upbringing problems” (A. Przecławska, 1976). A very frequent notion undertaken at that time and remaining within the scope of the indicated areas were the issues connected with organization and use of free time. This may be observed through research by T. Wujek: “Homework and active leisure of a student” (T. Wujek, 1969). Another frequently explored area was the problem of looking after children mainly in the papers by Albin Kelm or Marian Balcerek. It is worthwhile that the research on individuals, families or environments were carried out as part of the current pedagogical concepts of that time like: parallel education, permanent education, lifelong learning or the education of adults, whereas, the places indicated as the areas of human social functioning in which the environmental education took place were: family, school, housing estate, workplace, social associations. It may be inferred that from a certain (ideological) perspective at that time we witnessed a kind of modeling of social reality as, on the one hand particular areas were diagnosed, on the other – a desired (expected) model was built (designed) (with respect to the pragmatic function of practical pedagogy). A group work entitled “Upbringing and environment” edited by B. Passini and T. Pilch (B. Passini, T. Pilch, 1979) published in 1979 was a perfect illustration of these research areas. It ought to be stated that in those years a certain model of social diagnosis proper for undertaken social-pedagogical research was reinforced (M. Deptuła, 2005). Example paper could be the work by I. Lepalczyk and J. Badura entitled: “Elements of pedagogical diagnostics” (I. Lepalczyk, J. Badura, 1987). Finally, the social turning point in the 80’s and 90’s brought new approaches to the research on individuals, families and environments which may be considered as the beginning of the third stage of the development of social pedagogy. Breaking off the idea of socialist education meant abandoning the specific approach to research on the educational environment previously carried out within a holistic system of socio-educational influences (A. Przecławska, w. Theiss, 1995). The issues which dominated in the 90’s and still dominate in social pedagogy with regards to the functioning of individuals, families and local environments have been the issues connected with social welfare and security as well as education of adults. Research papers related to such approach may be the work by Józefa Brągiel: “Upbringing in a single-parent family” from 1990; the work edited by Zofia Brańka “The subjects of care and upbringing” from 2002 or a previous paper written in 1998 by the same author in collaboration with Mirosław Szymański “Aggression and violence in modern world” published in 1999 as well as the work by Danuta Marzec “Childcare at the time of social transformations” from 1999 or numerous works by St. Kawula, A. Janke. Also a growing interest in social welfare and social work is visible in the papers by J. Brągiel and P. Sikora “Social work, multiplicity of perspectives, family – multiculturalism – education” from 2004, E. Kanwicz and A. Olubiński: “Social activity in social welfare at the threshold of 21st century” from 2004 or numerous works on this topic created by the circles gathered around the Social Pedagogy Faculty in Łódź under the management of E. Marynowicz-Hetka. Current researchers also undertake the issues related to childhood (B. Smolińska-Theiss, 2014, B. Matyjas, 2014) and the conditionings of the lives of seniors (A. Baranowska, E. Kościńska, 2013). Ultimately, among the presented, yet not exclusive, research areas related to particular activities undertaken in human life environment (individuals, families) and fulfilled within the field of caregiving, social welfare, adult education, socio-cultural animation or health education one may distinguish the following notions:  the functioning of extra-school education institutions, most frequently caregiving or providing help such as: orphanage, residential home, dormitory, community centre but also facilities aimed at animating culture like youth cultural centres, cultural centres, clubs etc.,  the functioning of school, the realization of its functions (especially educational care), fulfilling and conditioning roles of student/teacher, the functioning of peer groups, collaboration with other institutions,  the functioning (social conditionings) of family including various forms of families e.g. full families, single-parent families, separated families, families at risk (unemployment) and their functioning in the context of other institutions e.g. school,  social pathologies, the issues of violence and aggression, youth subcultures,  participation in culture, leisure time, the role of media,  the functioning of the seniors – animation of activities in this field,  various dimensions of social welfare, support, providing help, the conditionings of functioning of such jobs as the social welfare worker, culture animator, voluntary work. It might be concluded that the issues connected with individuals, families and environment have been the centre of interest of social pedagogy since the very beginning of this discipline. These were the planes on which social pedagogists most often identified and described social life – from the perspective of human participation. On the course of describing the lives of individuals, families and broader educational environments social pedagogists figured out and elaborated on particular methods and ways of diagnosing social life. Is it possible to determine any regularities or tendencies in this respect? Unquestionably, at the initial stage of existence of this discipline, aimed at stimulating national consciousness and subsequent popularization of cultural achievements through certain activities – social and educational work, social pedagogists built certain models of these undertakings which were focused on stimulating particular social activity and conscious participation in social life. The issues concerning social diagnosis, though not as significant as during other stages, served these purposes and hence were, to a certain extent, ideologically engaged. The situation changed significantly before and shortly after the World War II. Facing particular conditions of social life – increase in many unfavourable phenomena, social pedagogists attempted to diagnose and describe them. It seems to have been the period of clear shaping and consolidation of the accepted model of empirical research in this respect. The model was widely accepted as dominating and has been developed in Polish social pedagogy during the second and subsequent stages of developing of this discipline. Practical and praxeological character of social pedagogy became the main direction of this development. Consequently, social diagnosis realized and undertaken with regard to social pedagogy was associated with the idea of a holistic system of education and extra-school educational influences and related educational environments. Therefore, the more and more clearly emphasized goal of environmental research – forecasting, was associated with the idea of building holistic, uniform educational impacts. After the systemic transformation which occurred in Poland in the 90’s, i.e. the third stage of social pedagogy development, abandoning the previous ideological solutions, environmental research including diagnosis was reassociated with social life problems mainly regarding social welfare and security. Individuals, families and environment have been and still seem to be the subject of research in the field of social pedagogy in Poland. These research areas are structurally bound with its acquired paradigm – of a science describing transformations of social life and formulating a directive of practical conduct regarding these transformations. A question arouses about the development of social pedagogy as the one which charts the direction of transformations of practices within the undertaken research areas. If it may be considered as such, then it would be worthwhile to enquire about the directions of the accepted theoretical acknowledgments. On the one hand we may observe a relatively long tradition of specifically elaborated and developed concepts, on the other – there are still new challenges ahead. Observing the previous and current development of Polish social pedagogy it may be inferred that its achievements are not overextensive with regards to the described and acquired theoretical deliberations. Nevertheless, from the very beginning, it has generated certain, specific theoretical solutions attempting to describe and explain particular areas of social reality. Especially noteworthy is the first period of the existence of this discipline, the period of such social pedagogists like i.a. J.W. Dawid, A. Szycówna, I. Moszczeńska or Helena Radlińska. The variety of the reflections with typically philosophical background undertaken in their works (e.g. E. Abramowski) is stunning. Equally involving is the second stage of development of social pedagogy i.e. shortly after the World War II, when Polish social pedagogy did not fully break with the heritage of previous philosophical reflections (A. Kamiński, R. Wroczyński) yet was developed in the Marxist current. A question arouses whether the area of education and the projects of its functioning of that time were also specific with regards to theory (it seems to be the problem of the whole Socialist pedagogy realised in Poland at that time). The following years of development of this discipline, especially at the turn of 80’s and 90’s was the period of various social ideas existing in social pedagogy – the influences of various concepts and theories in this field. The extent to which they were creatively adapted and included in the current of specific interpretations still requires detailed analysis, yet remains clearly visible. Another important area is the field of confronting the theories with the existing and undertaken solutions in the world pedagogy. A. Radziewicz-Winnicki refers to the views of the representatives of European and world social thought: P. Bourdieu, U. Beck, J. Baudrillard, Z. Bauman and M. Foucault, and tries to identify possible connections and relationships between these ideas and social pedagogy: “the ideas undertaken by the mentioned sociologists undoubtedly account for a significant source of inspiration for practical reflection within social pedagogy. Therefore, it is worthwhile to suggest certain propositions of their application in the field of the mentioned subdiscipline of pedagogy” (Radziewicz-Winnicki 2008). The contemporary social pedagogy in Poland constantly faces numerous challenges. W. Theiss analysed the contemporary social pedagogy with regards to its deficiencies but also the challenges imposed by globalisation and wrote: “Modern social pedagogy focuses mainly on the narrow empirical research and narrow practical activity and neglects research in the field of theory functioning separately from the realms of the global (or globalising) world or pays insufficient attention to these problems. It leads to a certain self-marginalisation of our discipline which leaves us beyond the current of main socio-educational problems of modern times. In this respect, it seems worthwhile and necessary to carry out intensive conceptual and research work focused on e.g. the following issues:  metatheory of social pedagogy and its relationship with modern trends in social sciences;  the concepts of human and the world, the concepts of the hierarchy of values;  the theory of upbringing, the theory of socialization, the theory of educational environment;  a conceptual key of the modern reality; new terms and new meanings of classical concepts;  socio-educational activities with direct and indirect macro range e.g. balanced development and its programmes, global school, intercultural education, inclusive education, professional education of emigrants”. Considering the currently undertaken research in this field and the accepted theoretical perspectives it is possible to indicate specific and elaborated concepts. They fluctuate around structural spheres of social pedagogy on the axis: human – environment – environmental transformations. It accounts for an ontological sphere of the acknowledged concepts and theories. Below, I am enumerating the concepts which are most commonly discussed in social pedagogy with regards to the acquired and accepted model. Currently discussed theoretical perspectives (contexts) in social pedagogy and the concepts within. I. The context of social personal relationships  social participation, social presence;  social communication, interaction;  reciprocity. II. The context of social activities (the organization of environment)  institutionalisation;  modernization;  urbanization. III. The context of environment  space;  place;  locality. The socially conditioned process of human development is a process which constantly undergoes transformations. The pedagogical description of this process ought to include these transformations also at the stage of formulating directives of practical activities – the educational practice. It is a big challenge for social pedagogy to simultaneously do not undergo limitations imposed by current social policy and response to real social needs. It has been and remains a very important task for social pedagogy.

Abstract Background The rapid rise of various new online open courses has brought new opportunities and challenges to China's higher education teaching and teaching management. Classroom teaching in Colleges and universities is the core of the whole teaching activities, which undertakes the important educational objectives of shaping group personality value, cultivating group ability and imparting knowledge. Therefore, how to stimulate the group's interest in classroom teaching has become an urgent problem for college graduates. Under the background of the current “Internet +” era and the construction of “double first-class” universities, how to maximize the use of online open courses to serve the curriculum reform and innovation of colleges and universities, and solve the dilemma of current college education and teaching innovation, has become a new issue facing higher education. Topics and Methods Using modern information technology and integrating online and offline resources will be the trend of higher education teaching reform in the future. A large number of open online courses and related platforms promote the development of various information-based teaching methods, are impacting and affecting the classroom teaching in Colleges and universities, and have a far-reaching impact on the teaching reform and innovation in Colleges and universities. This paper makes full use of all kinds of network open curriculum resources and combined with lightweight intelligent teaching platform, and puts forward a hybrid teaching mode based on network open curriculum and intelligent teaching platform. At the same time, it discusses how to alleviate students' anxiety and depression. The center for flow regulation Depression Scale (CES-D) was used to evaluate the individual's depression level in the last week. There are 20 items in the questionnaire. Likert's 4-point score is adopted. 0 represents “occasionally or none”, 1 represents “sometimes”, 2 represents “often or half the time”, and 3 represents “most of the time or duration”. Four of them are reverse scoring. The total score of the questionnaire is the sum of each item. The greater the total score, the higher the individual's depression level. In the current study, Cronbach's α Is. 83. In this study, the delineation score of CES-D suggested by the latest research was used to screen adolescents without depression, subthreshold depression and depression. Specifically, the researchers measured the depressive symptoms of 5565 Chinese adolescents with the central depression scale (CES-D), and interviewed 634 of them with a total score of CES-D ≥ 20 on the clinical diagnosis of affective disorder and schizophrenia (K-SADS) in school-age children, so as to examine the demarcation score and validity of screening all adolescents with depressive disorder (including mild depressive disorder and depression) with CES-D. The results showed that the total score of CES-D ≥ 24 and ≥ 29 were the best demarcation scores for screening all depressive disorders and depression, with sensitivity of 97% ~ 94%, specificity of 74% ~ 79%, positive predictive value of 30% ~ 21%, and area under receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) of. 88 ~. 91. Because this study not only has the advantages of large sample size and strong timeliness, but also the relevant results have direct reference value for this study, adolescents with CES-D total score &lt; 24 are screened as non depressed adolescents, adolescents with 24 ≤ CES-D total score &lt; 29 are screened as subthreshold depressed adolescents, and adolescents with CES-D total score ≥ 29 are screened as depressed adolescents. Results The teaching mode can push the teaching materials into the hands of students, record the whole process of teaching data, realize the digital management of the whole process of teaching, and adjust the teaching strategy in time. The teaching mode proposed in this paper can make the evaluation of students' learning process more comprehensive, accurate and objective. The traditional student evaluation process is usually carried out through classroom attendance, classroom performance and group submission of homework. This method has strong subjectivity and low quality of students' homework. At the same time, it is difficult to make a comprehensive and accurate evaluation of students. From the perspective of teaching effect, students' anxiety is negatively correlated with their grades. The simple effect analysis of the interaction between the subject group and the strategy type found that the subject group was in the cognitive reappraisal (f (2, 763) = 9.72, P &lt;. 001, η 2 =. 03), cognitive immersion (f (2, 763) = 17.67, P &lt;. 001, η 2 =. 04), expression inhibition (f (2, 763) = 5.63, P &lt;. 01, η 2 =. 02) and expression catharsis (f (2, 763) = 3.96, P &lt;. 05, η 2 =. 01). After comparison, it was found that for cognitive reappraisal, non depressed adolescents were significantly higher than subthreshold depressed adolescents (P &lt;. 05) and depressed adolescents (P &lt;. 001), but there was no significant difference between subthreshold depressed adolescents and depressed adolescents (P &gt;. 05); For cognitive immersion, non depressed adolescents were significantly lower than subthreshold depressed adolescents (P &lt;. 01) and depressed adolescents (P &lt;. 001). However, there was no significant difference between subthreshold depressed adolescents and depressed adolescents (P &gt; 0.05); For expression inhibition, there was no significant difference between non depressed adolescents and subthreshold depressed adolescents (P &gt;. 05), and non depressed adolescents were significantly lower than depressed adolescents (P &lt;. 01), but there was no significant difference between subthreshold depressed adolescents and depressed adolescents (P &gt;. 05); For expression catharsis, non depressed adolescents were significantly lower than subthreshold depressed adolescents (P &lt;. 05) and depressed adolescents (P &lt;. 05), but there was no significant difference between subthreshold depressed adolescents and depressed adolescents (P &gt;. 05). Conclusion Through the practice of specific courses, the results show that the teaching model can effectively mobilize students' learning interest and improve the teaching effect and efficiency. As an important breakthrough in the reform of higher education in the future, online open curriculum can reconstruct the service mode of higher education, improve students' autonomous learning ability and cultivate students' ability to adapt to the new era of innovation. Make full use of online open courses at home and abroad and famous teacher courses in well-known universities to find teaching materials suitable for their students, absorb the excellent teaching achievements of others, apply them to classroom teaching, and guide students to carry out autonomous learning and in-depth learning in an appropriate way. Acknowledgements Supported by a project grant from “Theory and Practice project of Vocational Education Highland Construction in Hunan Province in 2021 ”Research on Hybrid Teaching Mode Based on Online Open Courses and Intelligent Teaching Platform“ (Project No. ZJGD2021237)

The use of digital technologies is now a natural part of schoolwork in many schools. The use of digital technologies and the conditions for technology-enhanced learning and school development were studied in two schools, an upper-secondary school and a compulsory school, over a period of 3 years, exploring the student, teacher, school leader, and school perspectives. In this small study, two surveys (N = 26; N = 17) were used to provide further insights into the compulsory school, by exploring the parent perspective of a 1:1 laptop initiative. Laptop use in the classroom was seen as a potential pedagogical tool for structure and support in learning activities, student responsibility for schoolwork, and issues of digital equity. Challenges included increased laptop use, difficulties regarding insight into and monitoring of schoolwork and homework, students’ focus on schoolwork in the classroom environment, and physical aspects. The results show that the parent perspective provides important insights for teachers, school leaders, and school organizers that may help support students’ learning through the use of digital technologies in the classroom.

The paper presents the research study of academic writing of Czech university students in an English Language Teacher Education study program. The authors apply an interdisciplinary approach integrating the perspectives of linguistics and language pedagogy in the evaluation of the design of the Academic Writing course and its impact on the development of students’ academic writing skills. Adopting a process genre approach (Badger, White, 2000) to writing instruction as a key design principle, our study combines the genre analysis framework (Swales, 1990) and the intercultural rhetoric perspective (Connor, 2004) to design an innovated academic writing course for graduate students focusing on developing critical thinking skills and context-aware writing. The course, informed by an analysis of the academic writing needs of the students, aimed at familiarizing them with the rhetorical structure of academic texts with a focus on the genre of the Master’s thesis and at introducing them to the academic writing conventions in the area of soft sciences. Piloted in 2019, the course was implemented as a blended course, where the contact sessions were complemented by online support in VLE Moodle. Apart from analyses of written texts, classroom writing, and homework tasks, it also included discourse editing tasks and peerreviewing with peer-reviewer feedback and teacher feedback. We believe that our research findings will shed light on the potential of academic writing courses based on the process-genre approach to contribute to the enhancement of the quality of English academic texts by non-native academic writers, and specifically Czech graduate students.

The purpose of this study is to understand confounding information regarding homework and schoolachievement. Recent research has sought to identify specific factors impacting student success as itrelates to homework including parental involvement, parental education, gender, socio-economicstatus, computer and internet use, extra-curricular activities, and other factors. Unfortunately, the resultsof these studies have lacked consensus. The review of the literature shows attempts have been madeto isolate co-variates along with important factors such as gender, parental involvement, and studentcharacteristics, but the results have been unclear. This study utilized a qualitative design withinterviews, observations, and collection of artifacts to attempt to isolate and understand possiblefactors influencing homework among seventh grade, high achieving science students and address thegaps in the literature. Interviews with teachers, parents, and students were designed to learn from thesevarying perspectives possible relationships or similarities that may lead to a better understanding ofthe relationship between parental involvement, gender, homework, and school achievement.