Moral Education of Youths in the Information Age

In Chinese societies, moral education has always been considered the most essential component of education because the nurturing of moral persons is the prime function of schooling. The implementation of moral education has relied on the inculcation of values that reflect moral ideals. The emergence of the Information Age, with a plethora of information and ideas being disseminated instantly through informational technologies, has altered the educational landscape of the world and challenged the conventional approach to moral education. Given this context, we argue that it is important for Chinese educators to find an alternative approach to moral education that can embrace the new realities of our networked world. In this approach, lofty moral ideals should give way to simple and easily understood concepts such as respect, information and ideas in the ＂cyber world＂ should be exploited rather than shunned, and the genuine interests of children and youths should form the basis of moral education that is at once relevant and enlightening. In proposing this approach to moral education, we also assume that moral educators in Chinese societies, which include school teachers, parents, and organizers of nonformal education programs, would endeavor to understand the complex world of cyber realities and devise feasible ways to suit contextual educational needs.     

Teachers’ Evaluation of Enterprise Education in the Secondary School

Abstract

This investigation was undertaken as part of research into ‘mini‐enterprise'activity in the secondary school. The research aimed to evaluate ‘mini‐enterprise’ as an approach to learning and to offer different examples in practice. Fundamental to this evaluation was an examination of the views and attitudes of teachers towards ‘mini‐enterprise’ work. This paper describes the survey undertaken to determine teachers’ attitudes towards certain key ‘enterprise’ issues and offers a summary of the research findings concluding in a discussion of the wider educational implications.     

A Case Study of the Adaptive Learning Platform in a Taiwanese Elementary School: Precision Education from Teachers’ Perspectives

Education and Information Technologies - This is a case study on precision education (PE) in a school using the Taiwan adaptive learning platform (TALP), established by the Ministry of Education of...     

Programmed Learning in Engineering Education?A Preliminary Study

A recent study of programmed learning, including experimental use in an electrical engineering department, indicated that the most fruitful application of teaching machine methods is in the presently nonprogrammed or loosely programmed hours spent by students outside classroom or laboratory periods. Programs already developed for use in this study have been concerned with analytical skills; further programs under development are concerned with concepts. Larger scale experiments are planned in which additional questions can be answered, particularly as to whether exposure to programmed instruction adversely affects the capacity of the student to learn independently.     

Changing Teachers – Teachers Changing Schools: assessing a graduate program in technology education

ABSTRACT

Innovative uses of technology may require a revision of educational policy and practice if technology is going to have an impact on the educational system. In 1993 the University of New Mexico College of Education began a four semester in‐service graduate program to develop teacher knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors that might assist the teacher to confront today's challenges without being restricted by past patterns. During the second year of its implementation, a comprehensive research study was instituted to assess the impact of the program. This paper presents findings relevant to the outcomes of the program. The results reveal that significant shifts occurred among participants in the frequency of use of technology and student‐oriented strategies and that participants were increasingly concerned with assuming leadership roles in their schools and school districts. Four dimensions of the program were central in achieving these results: its cohort nature, the fact that it was graduate, the use of telecommunications, and the incorporation of group activities by faculty that modeled frameworks and practices under study. The program was effective in helping participants to examine their educational beliefs and assumptions, to turn their perceptions into practices, and to shift their concerns from personal impacts and insecurities to global and system‐wide impacts and potentials. Graduate study for these educators has become a process of change with already discernible consequences for New Mexico schools.     

Secondary School Teachers’ Perception of Corporal Punishment: A Case Study in India

This article examines secondary school teachers’ perceptions of corporal punishment in India. Although it has been banned in Indian schools, various types of corporal punishment are still used by teachers. It has been mainly used as a mechanism for controlling disciplinary problems in schools. Based on a pilot study of 160 secondary teachers, the result of the research reveals that teachers still perceive corporal punishment as an effective method of controlling indiscipline in class. However, some teachers state that corporal punishment is ineffective in deterring students from misbehaving. Corporal punishment is not a good method to maintain discipline. Adopting harsh methods indicates a lack of proper training in managing students in a classroom situation and a poor understanding by the teachers of students’ mental states. An awareness program for secondary school teachers about the effects of corporal punishment on children is needed. The solution is proper training for teachers and student-teachers in the use of counseling to manage behavioral problem. Also full-time counselors can be appointed in schools.     

Students’ Perception of Change in the Singapore Education System

This paper presents the findings of a research that examines students perception of the change in the Singapore Education System and how that impacts on their satisfaction and outlook. Analysis of the data obtained through a questionnaire and face-to-face interviews shows that the more favourable the perception of change amongst students, the more favourable is their satisfaction and outlook. The implication for education leaders is that it is important to understand student perception of change because they are the ultimate beneficiary of change.     

A Survey of Primary School Teachers’ Understanding and Implementation of Moral Education in Trinidad and Tobago 1

Abstract

Results from a survey of teachers’ understanding and implementation of moral education in primary schools in Trinidad and Tobago are presented here, against consideration of the role of moral education in schooling. The paper discusses the range of moral curricula available for the implementation of moral education in schools and constraints on implementation in the classroom. It also compares the need for and applicability of moral education programmes in developing and developed countries. In Trinidad and Tobago, noted for its population and religious mix, the role of moral education has been given importance from the highest levels at the Ministry of Education and elsewhere in government. The survey of a representative sample of teachers in primary schools throughout the country showed that they largely felt themselves responsible for introducing moral education to their pupils, although they rarely drew upon any specific curriculum. They tended to take a ‘virtues’ approach in their teaching of moral education, and were generally satisfied with the results of their efforts. There were few differences between understanding and implementation of moral education that could be attributed to age, sex, experience or responsibilities of the teacher, or the age of the pupils. These results are not just characteristic of a developing country as they mirror earlier findings in England and elsewhere.

     

A Longitudinal Study of Physics Students’ Conceptions of Force in Pre-service Training for High School Teachers

Do physics students in pre-service training to be high-school teachers hold the accepted scientific views that will eventually allow them to plan and implement instructional strategies, which, in turn, will lead their future students to achieve a scientific concept of feree? The results of a longitudinal study dealing with this issue will be discussed in this paper. The most important findings of this study can be summarised as follows. Physics students in pre-service training for high school teachers: (1) mostly do not succeed in abandoning their Aristotelian ‘impetus’ misconception; (2) have difficulties in recognising reaction as a force; (3) are rather ambivalent when referring to the necessity of the forces to be balanced in static situations; (4) hold, to a great extent, the concept that an initial force exerted on an object keeps it going and gradually lessens--the ‘fading-away’ concept; (5) hold, to a great extent, the concept that a force (inertia), resisting a push, acts on moving objects; (6) tend to return in 4th year in college to intuitive views of force, rather than holding the accepted scientific concept.     

Conceptualizing and Contextualizing the Concept of Refugee in Education: A Phenomenological Study of Teachers’ and Students’ Perceptions in a Conflict-Affected Society

The aim of this study was to investigate Greek-Cypriot primary school teachers’ and students’ perceptions of the concept of refugee using a phenomenological-interpretive framework. The value of a phenomenological study was to gain a deeper understanding of the roots of participants’ perceptions of refugeehood as well as how those perceptions were connected to participants’ feelings about refugees. Data collection involved a total of 40 interviews—20 interviews with teachers and 20 interviews with students. Against legal definitions of refugee and internally displaced people, it is shown that participants’ understandings were rooted in their lived experiences of uprootedness, of loss of home, and of lack of belonging. The study makes a contribution in understanding the complexities and tensions between legal definitions and the situatedness of the concept of refugee in lived experiences. Contextualizing the concept of refugee can create pedagogical spaces for the affective dimension in teacher professional development, which is critical to understanding the lived experience of refugees in more complex and nuanced ways, especially within conflict-affected settings.     

A Study of the Cooperation in the Classroom

In the past, the teachers are traditionally regarded as information givers; Knowledge flows only one way from teachers to students, while the students are usually considered as information receivers and they are very passive and boring. New syllabus requires cooperation between teachers and students, So teachers may need to re-think their approaches when they teach students, Teachers not only need to build up a positive relationship with the students, but also need to establish a clear understanding of how they expect and want things to be.     

Do Preservice Science Teachers Develop Goals Reflective of Science Teacher Education? A Case Study of Three Preservice Science Teachers

Research in Science Education - One broad research question researchers continue to pursue is: to what degree does science teacher education influence the thinking of preservice science teachers?...     

Does Empathy Predict Instructional Assignment-Related Stress? A Study in Special and General Education Teachers

The role of empathy in the teaching profession has been vastly investigated in relation to its effect on students, but research on how teachers’ empathy affects their own well-being at work is limited. This study investigated empathy and instructional assignment-related stress factors of primary school teachers serving in general or special education; moreover, it investigated if empathy predicted instructional assignment-related stress. Data were collected from 190 primary school teachers using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index and the Inventory of Job-related Stress Factors. Teachers reported moderately high levels of perspective-taking and empathic concern and lower levels of fantasising and personal distress. Also, they reported moderate to low levels of stress regarding instructional assignment-related factors. General and special education teachers did not differ in their reported scores on empathy or stress-related factors. Finally, it was found that instructional assignment-related stress factors can be predicted by personal distress and fantasising; however, the core empathy skills (empathic concern and perspective taking) were not found to be strong predictors of the stress factors tested.