Journal articles on the topic 'Volunteer teacher educators'

The success of the Mathematics Teacher is very much dependent on the volunteer efforts of many mathematics educators. Those who serve as department editors, manuscript referees, and publication and courseware reviewers include junior and senior high school teachers, curriculum designers, college and university mathematicians, and teacher educators. The following are the names of those individuals who were active as of 7 July 1989. Their contributions are deeply appreciated. Anyone interested in serving as a referee of manuscripts should request an application form and guidelines from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

Every year, a number of Chinese undergraduates from urban teacher universities are selected as volunteer pre-service teachers to teach in schools located in underdeveloped rural areas. In this qualitative case study, the researchers explore four pre-service teachers’ 1-year experience as volunteer educators in rural schools, their communities of practice in the south and west of China, and present their reflections on the challenges, including how their responses (re)shaped their teacher identity. It is found that these pre-service teachers have built their social capital through rural teaching experience, and they have begun to construct their professional teacher identity within that transitional community of teaching practice. The paper contributes to discussions of pre-service teacher education and pre-service teacher identity construction in the context of secondary education in rural China and in other parts of the world.

Persistent shortages of special education teachers, particularly in rural areas, exist across the country. This study assessed the openness of teacher candidates enrolled in an introductory education course at two rural Midwest universities to a special education career path. Survey findings confirmed that work or volunteer experience involving people with special needs is a significant predictor of choosing special education as a career path. Findings also revealed that not all students who have experience with individuals with special needs choose to pursue special education. Considerations for teacher education faculty hoping to attract more special educators to the field are discussed.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to understand the impact of a collaborative workshop, aimed to support teacher educators in embedding a “global outlook” in the curriculum on their perceived professional development. Design/methodology/approach The workshop included working sessions, during a period of 13 months, and was structured as participatory action research, according to which volunteer academics designed, developed and evaluated global education projects in their course units. Data were gathered through a focus group session, conducted with the teacher educators at a final stage of the workshop, and analyzed according to the principles of thematic analysis. Findings Results of the analysis suggest that the workshop presented a meaningful opportunity for teacher educators to reconstruct their knowledge and teaching practice to (re)discover the importance of collaborative work and to assume new commitments to themselves and to others. Originality/value The study addresses a gap in the existing literature on academic staff development in internationalization of the curriculum, focusing on the perceptions of teacher educators’, whose voices have been largely silent in research in the field. The study concludes with a set of recommendations for a professional development program in internationalization of the curriculum.

Background/Context In this article, we trace the development of a prospective secondary science teacher as she begins to examine her identity as a White person. We explore how the social languages of her teacher education program challenge, intermingle, and blend with ones she brought to the program from her midwestern small-town childhood and a professional life in science. Research Design In this case study, we deploy Russian philosopher M. M. Bakhtin's notion of ideological becoming to trace her development from program entry through four semesters of program participation. We show how various fieldwork, course, and volunteer experiences challenge the ways she talks and thinks about herself, her students, teaching, and the roles that race/ethnicity and culture play in these relationships. Research Questions We ask: How does this prospective teacher understand her identity as a White person? What relationship does she understand that this identity has to teaching students who are from many different cultural backgrounds? What kinds of dilemmas arise for a prospective teacher when she begins to understand who she is as a White person? How does she negotiate them? And what role does her teacher education program play in encouraging and supporting her negotiations? Conclusions/Recommendations The article concludes by considering what practicing teachers and university teacher educators might do to support new teachers who have begun to question their identities and those of their students, and to craft pedagogy to meet students’ needs. Included in the recommendations are considerations for the location of class-room placements for prospective teachers; the nurturing of collaborative relationships between classroom teachers and university teachers; teacher education program pedagogy that promotes critical inquiry into issues of race; and the development of communities of prospective teachers who can struggle with such issues as their identities as racialized beings.

Outdoor learning has, for a long time, been an important instructional resource in school education, usually embedded in the natural sciences and social sciences curricula. Teaching geography, geology, or biology beyond the traditional classroom allows students to interact with physical and social environments for meaningful learning. Mobile devices that are based on geospatial technologies have provided more accurate data, but also a combined instructional design with other WebGIS, map viewers, or geographic information system (GIS) layers, which are useful to foster education for sustainable development. This paper analyzes the applications of mobile learning based on citizen science and volunteer geographic information, but also on the growing awareness that citizens and educators need a set of digital competencies to enhance and innovate lifelong learning and active citizenship. The empirical research aims to measure teacher–training experience, highlighting the potential of mobile devices and their applications in environmental education. Data collected from the research and results prove the positive impact of mobile learning in environmental education. Finally, a discussion about mobile learning and education for sustainable development is provided.

This pilot study evaluated the impact of the Katalyst curriculum, a fifth-grade experiential learning program, on students’ knowledge of a healthy lifestyle’s impact on body functions. Katalyst’s interactive curriculum spans two days and includes four, 60-min stations on body systems: cardiovascular/endocrine, gastrointestinal, neurological, and respiratory/musculoskeletal. Three schools were recruited, and two schools completed the intervention sessions. Prior to beginning the stations, fifth-grade students completed a 37-item questionnaire to assess knowledge and perceptions. Students completed the same survey at the end of the Katalyst intervention. Teachers at the school also completed a survey post intervention to provide feedback on the program. Frequency and paired analyses were conducted on student responses and summative content analysis on teacher and volunteer feedback. The School 1 completer (n = 63) baseline mean knowledge score was 66.2%. The School 2 completer (n = 47) baseline mean knowledge score was 67.3%. Following the Katalyst intervention, both schools showed a statistically significant increase in the mean post score to 70.3% (p = 0.0017) and 78.4%(p < 0.0001) at School 1 (n = 63) and School 2 (n = 47), respectively. Teacher feedback (n = 7) revealed that Katalyst was effective in meeting state educational health standards and teachers perceived that the students benefitted from the program more than “reading about the body systems in a textbook or health magazine”. The Katalyst pilot study appeared to improve fifth-grade students’ knowledge of body systems and health. Katalyst aligned with state educational standards and is supported by teachers for an experiential learning opportunity. The Katalyst curriculum could be a potential avenue for health educators in Appalachia.

Humor may make people laugh, but linguistically it is no laughing matter. This paper proposed to the educators, teacher preparation programs, and educational researchers who need to take humor and the related phenomenon of play more seriously in their approach to understanding the dynamics of classroom interaction and how challenging humor and play can be to interpret and navigate as they unfold spontaneously in teacher-student interactions. This study aimed to identify the kinds of metacommunicative awareness that teachers, particularly novice educators, need to develop to navigate the interactions they engage with successfully. Meta communicative awareness referred to a deep-seated understanding of how meaning in interaction is constructed and an ability to step outside one’s immediate interpretive frame. The study was conducted between 2016 and 2018 in a community-based afterschool program. The program serves adults and children in the surrounding area who identify as Bangladeshi. The data were collected through audio-recorded interviews with 18 university participants, approximately 40 hours of audio-recordings of homework help sessions, samples of university students’ notes and reflective writing from their time as volunteers, and samples of the children’s schoolwork. The homework helpers were undergraduate and graduate students from two universities. Some of the homework helpers were pursuing master’s degrees in education. They aspired to careers as teachers, and others had volunteered for the program to fulfil institutional community service requirements. At the program, these homework helpers were referred to as “volunteers,” and they occupied both the institutional and interactional role of “educator” concerning the children. It can be concluded that humor and play-interpreted talk in educational settings quite challenging. Moreover, a failure to recognize talk as play could have serious consequences for what ultimately happens between teachers and students and how they come to see one another.

In order to develop relevant teacher education programs, teacher educators must understand attitudes, concerns and knowledge of inservice rural teachers toward inclusion of children with special needs in their classroom. Questionnaires were distributed to teachers in rural/remote areas of British Columbia. Results were indicative of the urgent need for providing additional human resources to assist with inclusionary practices, particularly the addition of trained assistants, parents, and community volunteers.

This investigation is an evaluation of a teacher training project designed to aid teachers of the mildly mentally handicapped in developing and implementing plans for integrating computer use into their existing math curricula The training project was designed to facilitate teachers' implementation of recommended practices for effective use of computer-based instruction Both classroom observation and teacher opinion data indicated that teachers who underwent the training program were more effective at integrating microcomputer technology than were teachers who had volunteered to participate in the training project but were not admitted due to enrollment limitations.

AbstractOperation Magpie was a citizen science project that involved the community in collecting data about magpies. This article describes one aspect of the project from an education perspective. The study began with a collaboration of teacher educators, environmental scientists and a local radio station. After an initial workshop with 75 teachers, three teacher educators met regularly with 13 primary teachers who each volunteered to plan and teach a unit of work on birds. Meeting regularly in focus groups, the teachers shared their pedagogical strategies that supported students to connect with their local environment. Findings include the importance of focused professional learning for teachers through ongoing, needs-based support during the planning and teaching of the unit, and the innovative ways that teachers approached the unit. One unexpected finding was that teachers tended to identify student learning in terms of the English curriculum rather than the science curriculum.

The Uris Library and Teacher Resource Center is the only library in the Metropolitan Museum of Art open to all Museum visitors. Its 6,000 books, 900 videos and growing numbers of CD-ROMs and electronic resources serve ever increasing numbers of the Museum’s public. Students and teachers, Museum members, Museum educators and volunteers, as well as general Museum visitors all use the Library.

Can you imagine the motivational value of a young adult being exposed to images of common day objects that they have an interest in, magnified ten, one hundred, or one thousand times? Then imagine the student learning the theory and operation of a scanning electron microscope. Finally, imagine walking into a laboratory to see these same students operating an SEM and taking their own micrographs.For the past three years I have had the pleasure of teaching the laboratory portion of the SEMEDS program. The program's goal is not just to motivate high school students in science, but to expose them to the wonders of microscopy and how it affects their everyday life.The program currently has three phases. During phase one, teachers from local high schools are contracted about the program. The teachers volunteer at the beginning of the school year then become students themselves during a four hour class.

<p><span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;">New technologies are transforming every aspect of today’s education, and teacher educators, teacher education institutions and policy makers are universally underscoring the need for adequate technology professionalisation programs. However, traditional professional development opportunities still leave much to be desired because educators perceive most of workshops, training and off-campus days as being separate from engagement with authentic teaching contexts. We conducted this study to explore and identify factors that foster teacher educators engagement in technology learning. Fifteen teacher educators from three interdisciplinary teams at a Dutch teacher education institution volunteered to participate in this qualitative study. We gathered data through reflective reports, semi-structured interviews and field observations. We found four factors that fostered teacher educators’ engagement in technology learning and that are in line with the international engagement literature. The implications of the findings might contribute to teacher educators’ technology professional development on both an individual level and institutional level. </span></span></p>

Virtual reality (VR) is capable of immersing users in a simulated environment that creates a heightened sense of presence (Baños et al., 2004) and embodiment (Kilteni et al., 2012), both of which play essential roles in the learning process (Makransky & Peterson, 2021). However, VR use in education is still at a preliminary stage and limited to early adopters. With the advent of standalone VR head-mounted displays (HMDs) and the shift to remote education due to COVID-19, it is now the right time to integrate VR into education and to explore its benefits and shortcomings. To this end, the two teacher researchers launched a small scoping longitudinal study with a group of five volunteer participants (4 undergraduate and 1 high school student, 4 males and 1 female) to explore their perceptions and evaluation of VR for educational purposes. Following a self-directed approach to learning (Hammond & Collins, 1991) and an exploratory practice approach to research (Allwright, 2003; Hanks, 2017), the five students led by the two teachers contributed to the current study in three stages that began with immersive VR and moved to WebVR. In stage 1, all the participants were given Oculus Quest 2 HMDs and trained how to use them. The students then looked for free VR apps that they found educationally worthwhile, explored them on their own, and documented their findings. During weekly meetings, they joined a shared virtual space on Engage, where they presented and discussed their findings. Through this activity, the researchers compiled a list of free apps that could be useful for education and investigated the affordances and challenges of HMD-powered VR. The students’ responses in online surveys and focus group interviews revealed that the benefits of VR over traditional forms of EdTech included higher engagement, improved focus on task, lower anxiety, and more effective collaboration and team building. However, HMD-based VR induced varying degrees of cybersickness for most of the participants (Authors, 2021). To tackle these challenges, the researchers switched to Mozilla Hubs, an open source WebVR platform. The students were asked to create their own Hubs rooms to introduce an aspect of their academic discipline to the group. They welcomed this change since Mozilla Hubs, although not as immersive, did not cause cybersickness but there was one primary concern regarding the excessive processing load on students’ devices. Some had trouble entering Hubs rooms or could not turn on their audio. These issues led to stage 3 in which the participants used 360-degree cameras to take spherical photos and videos and create virtual tours on ThingLink. Three out of five students contributed to this stage creating virtual tours of a university campus, a park, and a horse ranch. They expressed positive opinions of ThingLink saying that it was intuitive, user-friendly and did not require much processing power. However, the degree of immersion and sense of presence was perceived as the lowest of all. This study provides valuable insights for educators willing to adopt VR.

The general aim of this study is to determine the development of meta-competences of future primary school teachers. The research was carried out in the fall semester of 2021-2022. The research consisted of 362 volunteer primary school teachers who continue to work in various schools in Kazakhstan. The data collected for the quantitative method in the research through an online questionnaire were analyzed using the SPSS program. Thanks to this wide participation, the meta-competence status of distance education and primary school teachers were emphasized and described. The results demonstrated that the use of innovative education with the blended learning method provides a better understanding of the lesson and that thanks to the meta-competence model of education, a bond is formed between the students who take the course. Finally, it is thought that the repetition of these studies with different methods for primary school teachers will benefit both the field, the educator, and the future primary school teacher candidates. Keywords: Corona Virus (COVID 19), Distance Education, Meta Competence, Pandemic, Technology

Self-Care Options for Resilient Educators (SCORE) is an 8-week, asynchronous virtual training program that teaches stress management skills relevant to educators’ job-related responsibilities and interpersonal interactions. From January-April 2020, 28 pre-service teachers participated in a quasi-experimental study of SCORE’s feasibility and preliminary efficacy. Volunteers chose to either complete SCORE concurrent with their teaching internship or to complete the same assessments for comparison purposes. Recruitment and implementation took place prior to COVID-19 disruptions. Then, six weeks into SCORE, the participants encountered unanticipated school closures and uncertainties associated with their internships (e.g., Would they be able to complete their internships and degree programs? Would they be eligible to teach the next school year?). Despite disruptions to their teaching internships, the remote format of SCORE allowed the study to continue and for participants to complete the full training. Pre-intervention to post-intervention changes in outcomes for the intervention group reflected large effect sizes for decreases in burnout and increases in teacher efficacy. There were medium effects for increased self-compassion and small-to-medium effects for increased cognitive reappraisal. However, pre-to-post intervention differences for the comparison group were relatively unchanged on most indicators. Results for secondary traumatic stress was remarkable, as the comparison group demonstrated a medium-to-large effect for an increase at post-intervention. This measure, however, revealed no effect in change for program participants. This finding is noteworthy and suggests that participation in SCORE or a similar program may help mitigate the potentially harmful effects of exposure to secondary trauma. Overall, this study’s results support arguments for including stress management training during pre-service teaching internships.

Public schools in the United States (US) have become more linguistically diverse. With the rise of English as a global language, English Language Learners (ELLs) experience “transnationalism”, which requires them to gain a critical and reflective knowledge of diverse cultures and the valuing of a new language and culture. Many teachers do not recognize the importance of language as a tool for teaching academic subjects. Teachers struggle to shape and guide conversations using language to help ELLs further their development. The purpose of this study was to explore elementary physical education (PE) teachers’ experiences with teaching ELLs. Based on positioning theory, this study employed an interpretive case study research design. Six PE teachers volunteered to participate in the study. Data were collected from a survey questionnaire, face-to-face interviews and follow-up e-mails. Three major interrelated and complex themes emerged from the data analysis. These recurrent themes were (a) race and cultural-based stereotype, (b) social inclusion and communication challenges, and (c) PE teachers’ learning experiences. Although each of the PE teachers expressed the view that there were challenges in working with ELLs, they believed that they should implement effective pedagogical methods (inclusive pedagogy), address social justice and diversity issues of ELLs, and develop a positive learning atmosphere for all students.

This article provides teachers in rural settings with suggestions on how to engage classroom resource personnel (i.e., volunteers, instructional assistants) in monitoring students' achievement. The target, act, and graph (TAG) strategy offers rural special educators ways to empower classroom resource persons through training and use of the TAG Form. The TAG Form provides a comprehensive and easy-to-use snapshot of learner's needs, a data-collection reporting section, and a graphing tool. The three-step TAG Form implementation process is suggested for rural special educators' engagement of classroom resource personnel in recording and graphing the progress of rural students with exceptionalities towards their educational goals.

Teaching science concepts for conceptual understanding has its challenges. Bringing about conceptual change in the science classroom can be difficult because most concepts are complicated and often counter-intuitive in the teaching and learning of science concepts. A review of the literature indicates that the conceptual change model, CCM can be an effective teaching technique in addressing misconceptions and improving conceptual understanding when it comes to science instruction. The aim of this research was to find out the effect of the conceptual change model on pre-service teachers’ conceptual understanding regarding the topic of forces and motion. Using data from tests and questionnaires, the research questions were answered by quantitatively analyzing the collected data. The analysis revealed that there is a statistically significant correlation between the conceptual change model and the conceptual understanding of the pre-service teacher participants. Overall, the results provide evidence in support of the effectiveness of the conceptual change model, CCM in addressing misconceptions and promoting conceptual understanding of forces and motion among the pre-service teacher participants that volunteered for this research. The results also indicate that the CCM is a teaching model which must be considered by science educators and teachers as they seek to address issues related to misconceptions and conceptual understanding in the teaching of science topics. Keywords: conceptual change, conceptual change model, conceptual understanding, misconceptions, pre-service teachers, science education

Context The documentary film about U.S. education reform, Waiting for “Superman,” was met with acclaim and controversy when released to theaters in 2010, and again when launching its grassroots “host a screening” campaign in 2011. The campaign ran concurrent with 2011 state legislative sessions, during which several states (e.g., Ohio, Indiana, New Jersey, and Wisconsin) voted on education reform bills regarding teacher merit pay, probationary teacher contracts, school vouchers, changes to the school funding formula, charter school funding, and limiting teachers’ (and public workers’) collective bargaining rights—all issues touched on in the film. Purpose To shed light on the relationship between popular media, public opinion, and social action regarding education, I examine responses to Waiting for “Superman” across different viewer demographics and relate responses to educational policy stances. The following research questions are considered: 1. Why did people watch Waiting for “Superman” ? 2. How did different education stakeholders (preservice teachers, current teachers, academics, community members, etc.) react to the film? Were some groups more likely to accept, negotiate with, or oppose the film's message? 3. What role, if any, did the film play in viewers’ stances on education reform or intention to take social action in the education reform movement? Participants Participants include 168 self-selected audience members attending free public film screenings at a midwestern university. Research Design Mixed methods research design compares audiences’ descriptive statistics alongside open-ended survey responses and interview data. Results Viewers were majority young and female. Most attended because they were interested in the topic, wanted to learn more, or came with a friend. Audience responses were complex and nuanced, i.e., 38% volunteered positive reactions to the film and 30% criticized it in some way (not mutually exclusive). Emotional reactions were common (38%). Audience members tended to respond to the film based on their direct prior experience (or lack thereof) with the U.S. public education system. The majority of current teachers in the audience chose not to participate in the study, perhaps because of the contentious political climate. Fifteen percent of audience members were “inspired” to act after viewing, and half of those were preservice teachers, but none were current teachers. Conclusions In vilifying teachers’ unions, thereby marginalizing some great teachers, the film's producers may have missed the chance to effect lasting change in the education system. While potentially polarizing, popular film may be an effective way to engage preservice teachers in complex education topics. Contextualizing discussion with a multiperspective panel afterward is recommended.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to report on a small-scale research undertaken to examine the preservice English as foreign language (EFL) teachers’ collaborative understanding of lesson study. It constitutes the first of two empirical steps undertaken for integrating lesson study in initial EFL teacher education. The paper takes to the belief that preservice teachers’ understanding is a key factor that determines success or failure of lesson study projects and should therefore be investigated. Design/methodology/approach There were four preservice teachers who volunteered to participate in the study. Data were collected based on two procedures. Participants read the works of Lewis and Tsuchida (1999) and Dudley (2014) and were asked to collaboratively reflect about their readings on a WhatsApp platform. They were afterwards brought to a face-to-face discussion guided by questions mostly built from their previous reflections on the WhatsApp platform. Findings Participants have demonstrated a joint understanding which was essentially achieved due to the collaborative procedures. Likewise, participants have collaboratively reflected on the factors that could affect the process of lesson study and its application to EFL classrooms in Niger. These factors have been related to the issues in research methodology and the contextual learning culture. Originality/value The findings from this study draw attention to the need for teacher educators to use interactive and collaborative strategies while instructing preservice teachers about lesson study. The paper also offers insights about contextual factors which require preliminary and immediate actions before implementing lesson study in Niger.

Expensive technological hardware and software, prohibitively high cost of installing e-learning systems, the dedication required in terms of time and skills development, and experts required to service e-learning resources systems are some challenges developing countries face in using e-resources for teaching and learning. In the context of these challenges, this study was conducted at a library of a secondary teachers’ college Y in Zimbabwe to gain insight into the nature of E-Resources Integration. Qualitative research methods involving interviews, observations, and document analysis were used to generate data. Interviewees who volunteered were pre-services teachers, teacher educators, Librarians, and ICT personnel managing the e-resources system. Through thematic analysis, data were presented as verbatim, and narratives were interpreted to unpack meaning imbued. Findings show that power outages, poor internet connectivity, lack of e-resources awareness by prospective users, competencies in using e-resources, and computers, were factors that inhibited effective e-resources use for teaching and learning. As a recommendation, libraries should design and provide e-learning resource services that motivate learners consistent with their information needs, increasing the probability of using such resources.

This study discusses the Community that was founded in the city of Palembang, which cares about the lives of street children condition, especially in the city of Palembang. Street children who do not get an education either at school or at home. There are 117 children in the city ofPalembang unable to attend school. The data was obtained from the Palembang ministry of social services. Education is an important thing for street children to meet the future, with the education process can help children achieve what they dream ofThe research method used is a qualitative method with a case study approach and data collection techniques obtained through observation, interviews, and documentation obtained through primary data, namely administrators and volunteer who teach as resource person. For the analysis of the data themselves the authors use data reduction, data presentation and data verification.The results obtained through the field, interview with management of the South Sumatera Children Voulenteer the role of the community of South Sumatera children’s volunteers in forming the self confidance character education of street children in Palembang has Supporting and inhibiting factors, these supporting factors include: (1) Support from the goverment Palembang city in the from of financial aid and learning. (2) Teachers or educators. (3) Facilities for learning and teaching and learning equipment. The inhibiting factors include: (1) Students. and (2) Schedule.

Research about Individualized Education Program (IEP) meeting outcomes indicates special educators are unprepared and uncertain about practices designed to encourage meaningful IEP team participation. In response to these challenges, we crafted a simulated IEP (SIEP) project for preservice special education teachers as part of their licensure program. Using research-based simulation guidelines, preservice special education teachers were required to prepare, participate, and debrief with IEP team member volunteers and professors about the process. To evaluate the social validity of the SIEP project, we conducted qualitative interviews with 60 graduates of the program. Findings revealed five major themes that highlight value in the experience, including (a) valuable preparation for the future, (b) practical application of educational theory, (c) a safe space to learn and make mistakes, (d) real-world practice collaborating as a team, and (e) an opportunity to gain meaningful feedback. Following the presentation of themes, we discuss implications for practice and future research.

Competitive opportunities for handicapped or disabled athletes are burgeoning. Different populations have different capabilities. Moderately (MO-MR) and mildly mentally retarded (MI-MR) athletes have unique abilities, and many physical educators, teachers, and volunteers spend countless hours preparing individuals and teams for tournaments and competitions. Two models are presented to assist in assessing MO-MR and MI-MR athletes’ abilities and levels of social functioning. Additionally a hierarchy of motor performance environments is presented. Discussion entails proper placement of athletes in a motor performance environment after ability and social functioning assessments have been completed.

This paper discusses findings from a study conducted in Melbourne in 1990–91 which investigated men's perceptions of their experience of fatherhood. Forty volunteer fathers participated in ongoing discussion groups which convened weekly for two hours over seven weeks. Group processes similar to those used in parent education were utilised to facilitate discussion and to explore issues which these men identified as significant and meaningful to them in their roles as fathers. Findings relating to these fathers’ perceptions of being a father, role expectations, participation in child rearing, the issue of work and family, and relationships with children are presented. The implications of these findings for children's services providers, teachers, and family educators are discussed.

Experiential learning is an important component of both teaching and learning during the curriculum reform that is implemented in the new general teaching curriculum. Combining theoretical study with experiential learning allows students to maximize their knowledge and skills, which is beneficial to education in general and the teaching of the Vietnamese language in particular. The purpose of this study was to investigate the viewpoints held by educators and administrators regarding the efficiency of experiential learning in the context of the Vietnamese language classroom. One hundred fifty classroom instructors and nine principals from elementary schools around the country volunteered their time to participate in the survey. In the study, quantitative approaches were used with descriptive analysis to examine the collected data. According to the findings, the majority of educators and administrators were in complete agreement that providing students with opportunities for experiential learning helped them feel more comfortable and engaged in studying Vietnamese language. Even while there were some educators and school administrators who did not believe that experiential learning helped students become more responsible for themselves, others, and the community as a whole, the consensus was that it did. Experiential learning has been shown to be an effective method for teaching pupils the Vietnamese language, as demonstrated by the evidence presented in the current study. When designing a curriculum for a classroom, encouraging students to participate in experiential activities and programs should be a priority.

This study documents the music teaching and learning that took place in the U.S. Navy band program at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station (GLNTS) near Chicago during World War I, led by Lieutenant John Philip Sousa. The following six research questions helped guide this investigation: How did Sousa organize the Navy band program? What were the details of teaching the enlisted bandsmen? What other music experiences were provided? How did the bandsmen’s work benefit the Navy and the US government? Which of the military band experiences likely influenced teaching and learning of instrumental music education after the war? What were the benefits for Sousa to volunteer near the end of his career? Findings revealed that more than three thousand bandsmen were taught by Sousa and Navy bandmasters. Bandsmen served in several ways: intact bands were sent to Navy ships to boost sailors’ morale; bands served the training regiments; bands toured the nation selling bonds; the GLNTS band program impacted the supply of band teachers after the war; and Sousa’s and the militaries’ educational and training strategies survive in today’s classrooms. The study concludes with a critique of the US government’s and Sousa’s role in commodifying the bandsmen.

The use of social media in teaching has also revolutionized the way learning takes place. At higher education levels, measures have already been taken in incorporating the use of social media for learning purposes especially in the teaching of language. However, at secondary school levels, educators are still having doubts about using social media due to multiple issues. Thus, this study was conducted to investigate the perceptions of secondary school students and a teacher in Malaysia on the use of Google+ towards the teaching of ESL writing skills. A case study method was adopted to carry out this research. 12 students from a class of form four secondary school students volunteered to participate in this study. Data were collected through focus group interview on the students and an individual interview with the class teacher and field notes. The overall findings of the study are that participants had positive perceptions on the usage of Google+ towards ESL writing. They gained a number of benefits, which include: having enjoyable and attentive lessons through the interactive features of Google+, as well as engaging themselves in an active and interesting lesson. The participants felt that they were having a sense of purpose, thus becoming more engaged in the writing tasks. As for interaction, the participants were interacting more confidently in Google+ writing classes compared to conventional writing lessons. The implication derived from this study is that teachers need to be made aware of how to integrate social media as learning tools in the teaching of English as a Second Language (ESL), particularly, in the teaching of ESL writing to upper secondary school students.

Project MICRO (Microscopy in Curriculum - Research Outreach) is the Microscopy Society of America's educational outreach program for middle schools. The idea began in 1993, but has taken a lot of time and effort to implement. MSA's early decision to collaborate with experienced science educators at the Lawrence Hall of Science (LHS) of the University of California at Berkeley was a wise one as their educational materials have a well-earned national reputation for excellence. The first phase of MICRO has just been completed, with the publication of a LHS teacher's manual that will support the MSA/MICRO effort to get microscopist-volunteers into classrooms nationwide.

Digital disruptions have affected higher learning institutions and forced educators across the globe to use digital platforms for online teaching. This paper presents the findings of a pilot study that investigated (1) the usage of digital platforms for teaching English at a Malaysian university and (2) how university English language teachers employed digital platforms for online teaching. An online questionnaire survey was completed by 19 university English teachers who volunteered to take part. Cross-tabulation analysis with frequency count and percentage distribution was used to analyse data, and short open-ended responses were coded for themes. Online web meeting platforms for synchronous language classes, learning management systems for task-based language learning, and cross-platform instant messaging applications for interactions and class discussions were found to be the most popular digital platforms among university English language teachers. Teachers optimised those three platforms for teaching English online and believe that they are adequate for teaching with poor internet accessibility. Finally, this paper offers suggestions for effective use of digital platforms for teaching English online at a university.

Service learning, an expanding pedagogical movement, educates students to volunteer their expertise for the benefit of society. Teachers of business and technical writing can apply this pedagogy by assigning students to write for nonprofits. Such assignments prepare students for both workplace writing and responsible citizenship. To help our profession consider the appropriateness of this pedagogy, this article describes the origins of the movement and proposes a rationale for it in our field. This article then explains sequential projects and teaching methods intended to reduce problems related to collaborative writing for nonprofits. Last, resources are identified to help prepare grant proposals, perhaps the most beneficial kind of document for nonprofits.

Teachers are required to write scientific papers as part of their work. Because not all teachers are proficient writers of scientific papers, this is a problem in the field of education. Most of the teachers at SDN Tambelang 1 and SDN Curahsawo 3 Probolinggo Regency still have difficulty writing scientific papers, according to a preliminary survey. As a result of these problems, teachers should be provided with training and assistance in article creation. The curriculum of the training and mentoring program is based on volunteer work in the community. The teaching team of FKIP PGSD Universitas Nahdatul Ulama Surabaya is involved in the service project. Face-to-face and online coaching and teaching activities are combined in this way. Both theoretical and practical instructions are given in the first stage; assistance on how to submit papers for publication in the following scientific publications. Teachers' understanding and scientific writing skills can benefit from this volunteer work in the community and become more refined as a result. Teachers, on the other hand, have the option of submitting papers to scientific publications as part of their duties as educators. Abstrak: Guru wajib menulis karya ilmiah sebagai bagian dari pekerjaannya. Karena tidak semua pengajar adalah penulis karya ilmiah yang mahir, hal ini menjadi persoalan di bidang pendidikan. Sebagian besar pengajar di SDN Tambelang 1 dan SDN Curahsawo 3 Kabupaten Probolinggo masih kesulitan menulis karya ilmiah, menurut survei pendahuluan. Sebagai akibat dari masalah ini, Guru harus diberikan pelatihan dan bantuan dalam pembuatan artikel. Kurikulum program pelatihan dan pendampingan didasarkan pada kerja sukarela di masyarakat. Tim Pengajar FKIP PGSD Universitas Nahdatul Ulama Surabaya terlibat dalam proyek pengabdian tersebut. Kegiatan pembinaan dan pengajaran tatap muka dan online digabungkan dengan cara ini. Baik instruksi teoretis dan praktis diberikan pada tahap pertama; bantuan tentang cara mengirimkan makalah untuk publikasi dalam publikasi ilmiah berikut. Pemahaman guru dan kemampuan menulis ilmiah dapat mengambil manfaat dari kerja sukarela ini di masyarakat dan sebagai akibatnya menjadi lebih halus. Guru, di sisi lain, memiliki pilihan sendiri untuk mengirimkan makalah ke publikasi ilmiah sebagai bagian dari tugas mereka sebagai pendidik.

<p style="text-align: justify;">The purpose of this study was to explore the factor structure of a measurement and to evaluate its internal reliability. Overall, 525 math-majoring elementary school teachers volunteered to participate in this study by answering online survey questions via Google Form. These samples were randomly partitioned into 262 participants for exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and 263 observations for confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The EFA tended to largely prefer a four-factor solution, which was proven to explain over 68% of the variation in the data. Awareness, effectiveness, engagement, and opportunity were the provisional labels for these hidden variables. The CFA results verified and validated the four-factor model, with all test measures exceeding the specified thresholds, suggesting an acceptable and excellent fit. The results of this study, on the one hand, provide four key areas for realistic math teachers, educators, and policymakers to discuss as opposed to examining individual indicators, and on the other hand, they serve as a foundation for interested researchers to conduct additional analyses, such as multivariate linear regression or complement for cluster analysis.</p>

Background/Context In the context of increasing accountability mandates in the preK–12 education system, the importance of professional development (PD) supports for early childhood educators is recognized. Education leaders emphasize the importance of partnering with teachers to inform the development of effective PD approaches. This partnering process is often referred to as co-construction. Co-construction with teachers is thought to be an essential element for ensuring that the learnings gained from any PD program are maintained once intensive supports are removed. However, guidance is scant concerning specific aspects of effective co-construction. Purpose of Study In this article, we document the process of co-construction within the Readiness through Integrative Science and Engineering (RISE) curriculum and PD approach. In so doing, we hope to illuminate processes potentially at work within the “black box” of PD. Setting/Participants The RISE project was implemented at two Head Start program sites that served a high proportion of dual language learning children and immigrant families in a large city in the northeastern United States. Participants were teachers and parent volunteers from these two programs. Research Design Using grounded theory methods, qualitative data on implementation across key RISE contexts were analyzed. Data collected across three years included digital audio- and video-recorded interactions among participants, written documentation of meeting agendas, planning notes, and meeting notes. Results Analyses resulted in the articulation of a three-step process: (1) setting the conditions for co-construction (establishing mutual respect and trust among partners, leveling roles and authority, and validating/naming partners’ expertise); (2) establishing joint activities as the core process (setting shared goals and agenda, building relationships, and validating co-constructed products); and (3) observing outcomes of co-construction (shifts in attitudes and interactional roles, appropriation of RISE concepts, and integration of RISE components). Conclusions/Recommendations The RISE model of co-construction comports with what others in the field have proposed about the importance of teacher input into their own professional learning, adding further dimensionality through systematic documentation and grounded theory analysis. We discuss how the RISE co-construction approach is similar to and distinct from other such efforts in the field of early childhood education, and we suggest future directions for research to document and test effective PD processes.

Precollege science education in the United States is not what it could, and should, be. Major changes are being made in the way science is taught, but delivering those changes to thousands of schools is an enormous task. Scientific societies are a major resource; they can organize and train member-volunteers to help teachers bring “real” science to the classroom. The Microscopy Society of America has become part of the effort with Project MICRO (Microscopy In Curriculum - Research Outreach). MICRO is putting MSA members, teaching materials, and microscopes in middle school classrooms nationwide. The idea began in 1993, but it has taken a lot of time and effort to implement.MSA's early decision to collaborate with experienced science educators at the Lawrence Hall of Science of the University of California at Berkeley was a wise one; their educational materials have a well-earned national reputation for excellence.

Agriculture in the Classroom has become a major, positive force addressing the ag literacy challenge. In California, Ag in the Classroom began in 1980 when the San Francisco School District asked the California Farm Bureau to help develop ag education activities and materials for all grade levels. There is now an AITC effort in every state. Each state approaches Ag in the Classroom from the basis of its own needs and resources. The most successful state programs are a result of cooperation among agriculture, education, volunteers and government. The USDA serves as the communication link among states.Major objectives of AITC include: 1) contribute to a population with a greater understanding of agriculture's importance to our economy and society, 2) promote awareness of career opportunities in agriculture. Activities and materials are offered in: Teacher Training, Student Program, Resource Materials and Special Programs.When given the opportunity, educators realize the importance of agriculture to them and their students. They have found that infusing ag information into the lessons they teach adds an exciting dimension to classroom activities.

Educational conditions reflect society’s cultural traditions and political system, in turn affecting society’s development. The development of the younger generation is guided by way of education, for which reason working out educational policy requires the participation of society’s various interest groups. This article analyses changes in the teaching of history in the transitional period from the Soviet era to restored independent statehood. The development of subject content, the complicated role of the history teacher, the training of history teachers, and the start of the renewal of textbooks and educational literature are examined. The aim is to ascertain in retrospect the developments that took place prior to the restoration of Estonia’s independence, in other words the first steps that laid the foundation for today’s educational system. Legislation, documents, publications, and media reports preserved in the archives of the Ministry of Education and Research and the Archival Museum of Estonian Pedagogics were drawn upon in writing this article, along with the recollections of teachers who worked in schools in that complicated period. These recollections were gathered by way of interviews (10) and questionnaires (127). Electronic correspondence has been conducted with key persons who participated in changes in education in order to clarify information, facts, conditions and circumstances. The discussion in education began with a congress of teachers in 1987, where the excessive regulation of education was criticised, along with school subjects with outdated content, and the curriculum that was in effect for the entire Soviet Union. The resolution of the congress presented the task of building a national and independent Estonian school system. The congress provided an impetus for increasing social activeness. An abundance of associations and unions of teachers and schools emerged in the course of the educational reform of the subsequent years. After the congress, the Minister of Education, Elsa Gretškina, initiated a series of expert consultations at the Republic-wide Institute for In-service Training of Teachers (VÕT) for reorganising general education. The pedagogical experience of Estonia and other countries was analysed, new curricula were drawn up and evaluated, and new programmes were designed for school subjects. The solution was seen in democratising education: in shaping the distinctive character of schools, taking into account specific local peculiarities, establishing alternative schools, differentiating study, increasing awareness and the relative proportion of humanities subjects and foreign language study, better integrating school subjects, and ethical upbringing. The problems of schools where Russian was the language of instruction were also discussed. The Ministry of Education announced a competition for school programmes in 1988 to find innovative ideas for carrying out educational reform. The winning programme prescribed compulsory basic education until the end of the 9th grade, and opportunities for specialisation starting in the second year of study in secondary school, that is starting in the 11th grade. Additionally, the programme prescribed a transition to a 12-grade system of study. Schools where Russian was the language of instruction were to operate separately, but were obliged to teach the Estonian language and Estonian literature, history, music and other subjects. Hitherto devised innovative ideas for developing Estonian education were summed up in the education platform, which is a consensual document that was approved at the end of 1988 at the conference of Estonian educators and in 1989 by the board of the ESSR State Education Committee. The constant reorganisation of institutions hindered development in educational conditions. The activity of the Education Committee, which had been formed in 1988 and brought together different spheres of educational policy, was terminated at the end of 1989, when the tasks of the committee were once again transferred to the Ministry of Education. The Republic-wide Institute for In-service Training of Teachers, the ESSR Scientific-Methodical Cabinet for Higher and Secondary Education, the ESSR Teaching Methodology Cabinet, the ESSR Preschool Upbringing Methodology Cabinet, and the ESSR Vocational Education Teaching and Methodology Cabinet were all closed down in 1989. The Estonian Centre for the Development of Education was formed in July of 1989 in place of the institutions that were closed down. The Institute for Pedagogical Research was founded on 1 April 1991 as a structural subunit of the Tallinn Pedagogical Institute, and was given the task of developing study programmes for general education schools. The Institute for the Scientific Research of Pedagogy (PTUI) was also closed down as part of the same reorganisation. The work of history and social studies teachers was considered particularly complicated and responsible in that period. The salary rate of history teachers working in secondary schools was raised in 1988 by 15% over that of teachers of other subjects, since their workload was greater than that of teachers of other subjects – the renewal of teaching materials did not catch up with the changes that were taking place in society and teachers themselves had to draw up pertinent teaching materials in place of Soviet era textbooks. Articles published in the press, newer viewpoints found in the media, published collections of documents, national radio broadcasts, historical literature and school textbooks from before the Second World War, and writings of notable historians, including those that were published in the press throughout the Soviet Union, were used for this purpose. Teachers had extensive freedom in deciding on the content of their subject matter, since initially there were no definite arrangements in that regard. A history programme group consisting of volunteer enthusiasts took shape at a brainstorming session held after the teachers’ congress. This group started renewing subject matter content and working out a new programme. The PTUI had already launched developmental work. There in the PTUI, Silvia Õispuu coordinated the development of history subject matter content (this work continued until 1993, when this activity became the task of the National Bureau of Schools). The curriculum for 1988 still remained based on history programmes that were in effect throughout the Soviet Union. The greatest change was the teaching of history as a unified course in world history together with themes from the history of the Estonian SSR. The first new curriculum was approved in the spring of 1989, according to which the academic year was divided up into three trimesters. The school week was already a five-day week by then, which ensured 175 days of study per year. The teaching of history began in the 5th grade and it was taught two hours per week until the end of basic school (grades 5 – 9). Compulsory teaching of history was specified for everyone in the 10th grade in secondary school, so-called basic education for two hours a week. The general and humanities educational branches had to study history three hours a week while the sciences branch only had to study history for two hours a week. Students were left to decide on optional subjects and elective subjects based on their own preferences and on what the school was able to offer. The new conception of teaching history envisaged that students learn to know the past through teaching both in the form of a general overview as well as on the basis of events and phenomena that most characterise the particular era under consideration. The teacher was responsible for choosing how in-depth the treatment of the subject matter would be. The new programmes were implemented in their entirety in the academic year of 1990/1991. At the same time, work continued on improving subject programmes. After ideological treatments were discarded, the aim became to make teaching practice learner-oriented. The new curriculum was optional for schools where the language of instruction was Russian. Recommendations for working with renewed subject content regarding Estonian themes in particular were conveyed by way of translated materials. These schools mostly continued to work on the basis of the structure and subject content that was in effect in the Soviet Union, teaching only the history of the Soviet Union and general history. Certain themes from Estonian history were considered in parallel with and on the basis of the course on the history of the Soviet Union. The number of lessons teaching the national official language (Estonian) was increased in the academic year of 1989/1990 and a year later, subjects from the Estonian curriculum started being taught, including Estonian history. The national curriculum for Estonian basic education and secondary education was finally unified once and for all in Estonia’s educational system in 1996. During the Soviet era, the authorities attempted to make the teaching profession attractive by offering long summer breaks, pension insurance, subsidised heating and electricity for teachers in the countryside, and apartments free of charge. This did not compensate the lack of professional freedom – teachers worked under the supervision of inspectors since the Soviet system required history teachers to justify Soviet ideology. The effectiveness of each teacher’s work was assessed on the basis of social activeness and the grades of their students. The content and form of Sovietera teacher training were the object of criticism. They were assessed as not meeting the requirements of the times and the needs of schools. Changes took place in the curricula of teacher training in 1990/1991. Teachers had to reassess and expand their knowledge of history during the transitional period. Participation in social movements such as the cultural heritage preservation movement also shaped their mentality. The key question was educational literature. The government launched competitions and scholarships in order to speed up the completion of educational literature. A teaching aid for secondary school Estonian history was published in 1989 with the participation of 18 authors. Its aim was set as the presentation of historical facts that are as truthful as possible from the standpoint of the Estonian people. Eesti ajalugu (The History of Estonia) is more of a teacher’s handbook filled with facts that lacks a methodical part, and does not include maps, explanations of terms or illustrations meant for students. The compendious treatment of Estonian history Kodulugu I and II (History of our Homeland) by Mart Laar, Lauri Vahtre and Heiki Valk that was published in the Loomingu Raamatukogu series was also used as a textbook in 1989. It was not possible to publish all planned textbooks during the transitional period. The first round of textbooks with renewed content reached schools by 1994. Since the authors had no prior experience and it was difficult to obtain original material, the authors of the first textbooks were primarily academic historians and the textbooks had a scholarly slant. They were voluminous and filled with facts, and their wording was complicated, which their weak methodical part did not compensate. Here and there the effect of the Soviet era could still be felt in both assessments and the use of terminology. There were also problems with textbook design and their printing quality. Changes in education did not take place overnight. Both Soviet era tradition that had become ingrained over decades as well as innovative ideas could be encountered simultaneously in the transitional period. The problem that the teaching of history faced in the period that has been analysed here was the wording of the focus and objectives of teaching the subject, and the balancing of knowledge of history, skills, values and attitudes in the subject syllabus. First of all, Soviet rhetoric and the viewpoint centring on the Soviet Union were abandoned. The so-called blank gaps in Estonian history were restored in the content of teaching history since it was not possible to study the history of the independent Republic of Estonia during the Soviet era or to gain an overview of deportations and the different regimes that occupied Estonia. Subject content initially occupied a central position, yet numerous principles that have remained topical to this day made their way into the subject syllabus, such as the development of critical thinking in students and other such principles. It is noteworthy that programmes for teaching history changed before the restoration of Estonia’s independence, when society, including education, still operated according to Soviet laws. A great deal of work was done over the course of a couple of years. The subsequent development of the teaching of history has been affected by social processes as well as by the didactic development of the teaching of the subject. The school reform that was implemented in 1987–1989 achieved relative independence from the Soviet Union’s educational institutions, and the opportunity emerged for self-determination on the basis of curricula and the organisation of education.

The purpose of a service/learning project is two-fold: to gain skill in one's area of study and simultaneously to provide service to an unrelated community. This project provided such an educational opportunity for our Horticulture and Landscape Architecture students by providing the mechanism for them to develop and practice their skills of garden design, presentation, installation, and maintenance, while also providing a service to Oklahoma's fifth grade teachers and their students. Through their service, our students gained insight into the creation of public gardens, specifically ones for children. This project created a template through which elementary educators could then work with their communities to develop children's gardens at their schools. Our students presented gardening ideas via slides to fifth grade classes, geographically distributed throughout Oklahoma, and then surveyed them for their input into a garden designed for and by children. The survey accessed the needs and dreams of both the fifth grade students and their teachers. The children's and teachers' desires, as expressed in the surveys, were incorporated into garden designs by our students. A prototype of one of the children's gardens was then installed at the Oklahoma Gardening studio grounds with the help of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture students, OBGA Ambassadors (a group of horticulturally trained volunteers from the Greater Stillwater Community), and Oklahoma elementary school teachers, who sought to gain experience in garden installation in order to create a children's garden at their own schools. The processes, from conception through design and installation, and finally utilization for elementary education, were videotaped and incorporated into a “how-to” video and fact sheet, produced and made available through the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service (OCES).

Across Asia, in countries such as Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China, and Hong Kong, the practice of the Co- teaching model within English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms has proved beneficial for both educators and learners. In those countries, having both native and non-native EFL teachers to develop and carry out lesson plans offers a great opportunity to build local teachers’ capacities and promote cultural exchange between teachers and within the classroom. For learners, the co-teaching model gives the possibility to hear pronunciation, as well as tones and rhythm, of a native speaker in English. While researchers have noted the benefits of this strategic approach in both teaching and learning English as a foreign language, in those aforementioned Asian countries, they have failed to specify if the practice can be generalized to other EFL countries around the world. To my knowledge, no research has been conducted on co-teaching in Benin. To fill this gap, this study, through qualitative and quantitative methods, aims to shed light on the prospects and challenges of co-teaching in Beninese secondary schools. As the co-teaching practice in Benin is only done by US Peace Corps TEFL Volunteers, the target population has consisted of thirty of them and forty of their counterparts. Valuable data has been collected through class observations, interviews and questionnaires over a six-month period. The findings have shown that even though there are challenges, the approach of co-teaching used in Benin is beneficial to both the team teachers and their learners. Finally, the study suggests ways to maximize the benefits of co-teaching and a few strategies to cope with challenges.

AbstractBackgroundThe coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has posed a new challenge for medical educators worldwide. While teaching and learning shifted online, assessment posed a roadblock. A pilot study was performed to check the feasibility and acceptability of online open-book examination.MethodsA pilot study was carried out on sixth semester (fourth year) students. An online open-book examination was conducted on an ENT topic, and feedback was obtained using a pre-validated questionnaire. Two teachers scored and collated the answers, and the marks were averaged for each candidate.ResultsNinety-eight students appeared for the examination: 21.4 per cent failed and 78.6 per cent passed. Eight students scored above 75 per cent correct. Only 55 students volunteered to give feedback; most agreed that the best advantage of this assessment was that it was stress-free. The disadvantage most complained of was network connectivity issues.ConclusionOnline open-book examination has the potential to be the new normal in the present circumstances and beyond.

Brainstorming is a valuable pre-writing activity in enabling learners to get started in writing classes. The present qualitative study explored the participants’ perceptions regarding the use of the method after experiencing it in online writing classes. The participants were selected based on convenience sampling, and their age range was 19 to 23. They had participated in private writing classes and volunteered to take part in interviews performed after the course. The interviews were also done virtually via WhatsApp, during which the respondents answered six questions. The analysis of the interviews led the researchers to extract eight significant themes, which were then divided into advantages and disadvantages. The interviewees mentioned idea generation, encouraging new ideas, becoming open-minded, enhancing motivation to write, and creating stronger rapport with classmates as the positive features of brainstorming. The disadvantages consisted of being distracted by too many ideas, being influenced by others’ ideas, and accepting ideas expressed by the majority. The study has implications for language teachers, educators, and ELT specialists.

The Objective of this paper is to showcase the experience of teachers who work with children of refugees, asylum seekers and children on the move in Trinidad & Tobago. These experiences can be considered by other educators on the international front, who work with migrant children as a frame of reference for dealing with them when they enter new environments. This topic is quite relevant in a world where children are constantly being uprooted and have to leave their home countries for the unknown. The paper aims to highlight the unique context under which these migrant children are informally educated. For reasons of risk and child protection, the paper will not use real names, locations and will focus only on the experiences of the educators/teachers. The paper will highlight the views of 29 teachers and teaching volunteers who spent more than 20 months trying to find alternative educational solutions for children of refugees, asylum seekers and migrant children on the move who are not allowed to enter the mainstream of public or private schools within Trinidad & Tobago. To give background and context, The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago acceded to the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. In 2019, the country has still, not passed any legislation or administrative regulations on asylum or refugee status, nor established a national refugee status determination procedure. The Venezuelan crisis and Cuban political and economic situation have contributed to a dramatic rise in the number of asylum seekers and refugees reaching to the nearby shores of Trinidad & Tobago in recent times. The borders of T&T are quite porous, and relatively unprotected allowing for constant new arrivals. Phillips (2018) reported, ‘160 arrivals everyday’. This influx of migrants and children on the move is putting the Republic in a position where educational practices need to be more closely examined, as the country’s lack of legislation on refugee and asylum matters, and the country’s immigration law, adopted prior to accession to international refugee instruments, does not provide an adequate framework for refugee protection and asylum issues. This simply put, means that the migrant population does not have the right to work, the right to an education; or any legal rights. Poignant is that the average Trinbagonian seems quite unaware of the needs and plight of this population of concern (POC). There are many uncertainties and negative impacts, since Trinidad & Tobago is considered by all to be a transit point and not a settlement zone for refugees, asylum seekers and people on the move. This paper will trace the challenges involved in educating the children of these persons who do not have legal standing within the country from the perspective of educators who have been directly involved in searching for educational solutions.

It is increasingly accepted that higher education should help students become aware of and develop their personal transferable skills. Many innovative solutions to problems in the current learning environment have been developed by teachers to address these issues, and the Enterprise in Higher Education initiative has supported educators in this area. The growing emphasis on the development of transferable skills has also had strong support from employers. The development and implementation of a community based module (the Community Enterprise Module) is described. In this, students are required to gain some knowledge and understanding of the psychology of group interactions in the classroom, and then to apply this as volunteers in the workplace. The rationale for the development of the Community Enterprise Module derives in part from the work of Rogers (1969) and Kolb (1984) in that students are required to solve problems encountered during personal involvement on their placement. Students also take part in grading to further enhance the development of their autonomy and self regulation.Modifications to the module deemed necessary after its first year of operation are described, and plans for future developments discussed.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore whether the emotional intelligence (EI) of instructional coaches could be improved with training, as well as how instructional coaches perceived the relevance of EI to their success as coaches. Design/methodology/approach This mixed-method study was conducted in two phases. The quantitative phase examined pre- and post-test EI scores of 90 instructional coaches who completed a 20-hour coach training intervention designed to improve the coaching skills of educators working with teachers to improve their instruction. Of the nine instructional coaches interviewed for the qualitative phase, four had increased their EI scores while five had decreased. The study took place primarily in the USA, with two participants in the survey portion from countries outside the USA. Findings Statistically significant increases for EI were found in the full sample. Among the 44 instructional coaches who enrolled on the training course voluntarily, there were significant improvements in total EI, both the interpersonal and interpersonal composites, and all five subscales (i.e. self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills). The mean EI scored for the 46 coaches who were required to take the training did not increase. The themes that emerged from the interviews were increased awareness, improved listening, enhanced empathy, a focus on strengths, and the role of EI in success as instructional coaches. Research limitations/implications Future research might examine the duration, intensity, and format of training that successfully increases EI scores. For example, comparing face-to-face formats with distance formats, such as the one used in this study, might yield interesting findings. This study would have been strengthened by the inclusion of a control group that received no training. Practical implications Both quantitative and qualitative analyses provided evidence that EI can be improved through training; thus, such training could be incorporated into initial preparation and ongoing professional development for educators. The differential outcomes for those who volunteered for the training as opposed to those who were required to take the training as part of their jobs highlights the important of the adult learning principle of choice. Thus, the element of choice should be taken into consideration in planning professional development. Originality/value The use of instructional coaches is an important form of professional development, designed to bring about improved teacher practices. This study provides both quantitative and qualitative evidence of the value of coach training, including statistically significant gains on a validated measure of EI. This study makes an important contribution because prior research on the question of whether EI can be taught has been largely anecdotal.

State specialists and agents developed a Master Gardener training curriculum that consisted of a collection of powerpoint presentations in the year 2000. After three years of use this curriculum was in need of revision and updating. The revision process that utilized volunteers, agents, subject matter specialists as well as curriculum specialists will be presented. Suggestions for improvement were gleaned from three years of class evaluations. In addition to obvious updating of material, formatting the curriculum into a lesson plan with complete step-by-step instructions for teachers was required to enable the curriculum to be more easily taught by non-extension personnel such as Master Gardener Educators. Removal of all questionable copyrighted pictures, graphs, drawings, etc. from the original curriculum was accomplished. This process will allow Mississippi State to share this curriculum with other universities if requested without fear of legal repercussions. Aligning the student's training notebook to more accurately reflect the material presented in class was done also. Resource material lists were added and standardized tests for the new material were included. The incorporation of hands-on activities or demonstrations to more actively engage the student in the learning process was included as well. The entire revised training curriculum was contained on a compact disc that was made available to instructors.

Most college professors spend little time helping youth (kindergarten to 12th grade) learn about horticulture, and the elementary and secondary schools seem to have created a dividing line between scientific concepts and practical life-long skills. Biology classes continue to emphasize the chemical processes of photosynthesis and deemphasize the nurturing, caring, dependability, responsibility, sense of accomplishment, and other life-long skills that can be obtained from growing plants. However, retail garden centers and chain stores are increasingly offering books and supplies on gardening and related activities for children. Seed companies market and package seeds just for children. Botanical gardens and arboretums are including youth horticultural activities as part of their on-going educational programs. The involvement of university educators in horticultural youth education can assist the “trickle up” theory to the parents of children along with affecting future voters. Take the first step to see what classroom horticultural materials are available in your state. Currently many teachers have an interest in learning more about horticulture but need educational materials. In addition, there is a large number of volunteers interested in this endeavor. Do your part and help develop accurate horticultural materials for these instructors to use in formal and informal educational settings.

Due to the effects of the COVID-19 virus, which started in Wuhan, China, and affected the world, on education / training areas since March 2019, digital transformation in education and online education issues have started to come to the fore. The general purpose of this study is to determine the development of metacompetence of university students based on innovative technologies. The research was implemented in the spring term of 2020–2021. It consists of 463 volunteer students according to the study in universities in Kazakhstan. The research description method was used. The interview form used in the study consists of 18 positive items developed by the researchers. The research data were collected via an online Google Form and analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Science programme. According to the results of the study, it was determined that university students choose their smart devices for innovative education, use the Internet and smart devices every day for this method, enjoy the use of innovative technology, create metacompetence information with innovative education and change their old habits with innovative education. The results were reached by expressing that the interest increased, the use of innovative education with the blended learning method enabled them to understand the lesson better and that the innovative education created a connection with the teachers of the lesson. Finally, it is thought that repeating these studies with different methods for university students will benefit the field, the educator and the students studying at the university. Keywords: Innovative education, metacompetence, technology, university, distance education, pandemic, coronavirus (COVID-19)

This article focuses on the organization and implementation of social projects, programs and their importance for future professionals such as teachers, social educators, social workers, psychologists and others. Based on the experiences of the NGO “Vinnytsia City Organization for Social Development of specific categories of vulnerable youth “Parostok”, authors presented a brief methodological overview to encourage students to social and educational activities. This allowed to partially characterize the areas of interaction between public authorities, civil society institutions and higher education institutions. Also, the authors presented practical examples of cooperation between social institutions; the training of specialists in the educational and social spheres to provide services to crisis categories of the population in terms of social benefits and educational management. The aforementioned allowed to reveal the purpose of authors’ research from the scientific and pedagogical perspective; reveal the social significance of project activities; explore the main factors of successful socio-pedagogical activities in various projects; explore issues related to educational management (goals, objectives). The experience gained in the implementation of social projects and their administration provided an opportunity to present the educational potential of interaction between social institutions and higher education faculty prepare for volunteer, planning, administrative, and socio-pedagogical activities of future professionals. Authors also stressed the importance of such work from the pedagogical management viewpoint, which is also evident in the article’s conclusions and identifies areas for the further scientific development. The presented results do not cover the whole range of organizational cooperation in preparing students for socio-pedagogical activities, development and implementation of social projects and programs. However, paper outlined a wide range of opportunities for further scientific research and development by various specialists in education and human resourcing. It can be used by a wide range of professionals who plan to join the project activities.