A simplified real-time camera-based attention assessment system for classrooms: pilot study

Education and Information Technologies - Monitoring students' attention and engagement levels in classrooms are critical in promoting an interactive teaching process. Therefore, in addition to...     

Effect of seedling age and water depth on morphological and physiological aspects of transplanted rice under high temperature

INTRODUCTION Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the most im-portant crops in Pakistan. It is the third largest crop interms of area and production after wheat and cotton.Although rice in Pakistan is consuming large acreage,Pakistan is still far behind other rice producingcountries. The average yield is very low (2 t/ha) ascompared to Egypt (8.4 t/ha) and USA (6.6 t/ha).There are many reasons for this low yield. The mostimportant are high temperature (40?50 °C), low hu-midity at …     

Motivation to teach: the case of Arab teachers in Israel

This paper describes an attempt to identify factors influencing teachers’ motivation in the Arab education system. In-depth interviews with 10 school principals, 15 teachers and 3 counsellors, yielded three themes influencing Arab teachers’ motivation: (1) Arab culture, (2) the school climate and (3) government policies. Arab teachers try to meet both government requirements and the minority Arab society’s expectations that they will shape students’ academic achievements, national identity and culture. Deficient resources and Arab principals’ detached management styles augment the difficulty, negatively influencing teachers’ motivation. Suggestions are given to improve government policies and Arab principals’ work and thus to enhance teachers’ motivation.     

The role of educational information systems for survival in information society and the case of Pakistan

The study reviews the important role of information systems and their impact on educational planning and development. It also attempts to identify gaps in the provision of information needed by educational administrators who are key planners of education enterprise in Pakistan. It intended to determine their views about the development, objectives and needed services of a user centered information system for educational administrators. To achieve these objectives, a literature review, questionnaire survey and interviews were conducted. Thus, the educational administrators (i.e., registrars/deans/chairpersons in universities and principals of schools and colleges) were identified as the target population for the survey and were selected through cluster sampling. The respondents were from the Punjab province and Islamabad Capital Territory. In total, 297 (99%) responses were received and analyzed quantitatively. Interviews of purposively selected educational administrators were also conducted for a more in-depth understanding of respondents’ points of view. This triangulation of qualitative and quantitative methods helped in understanding the phenomena under study. Recommendations and conclusions are also drawn in the light of findings of the study. The study is the first one of its type that tried to probe the gaps in the process of accurate/valid information supply to educational administrators and planners. This gap is causing serious challenges for education in Pakistan.     

Teaching Clinical Social Work Under Occupation: Listening to the Voices of Palestinian Social Work Students

The authors were invited to teach clinical social work in the Palestinian West Bank. In order to teach, we designed a study exploring how 65 Palestinian social work students described the psychological and social effects of working under occupation. Students described social stressors of poverty, unemployment, lack of infrastructure, violence, imprisonment, separation of families, and severe constraints on travel. They identified depression, suicide, anxiety, and war-related trauma as emerging from these conditions. Many experienced the same psychosocial problems as their clients in coping with harassment and delays at checkpoints. Implications for teaching social work theory and practice are discussed.     

Education for national identity: Arab schools principals and teachers dilemmas and coping strategies

Abstract

This article discusses strategies used by Arab principals and teachers in Israel to cope with dilemmas involved in education for national identity stemming from conflict between two national narratives. While the Israeli Ministry of Education expects the Arab education system to educate students according to the Jewish State’s values, Palestinian Arab society expects its schools to educate its children according to Palestinian Arab national-cultural values. A qualitative research employed a semi-structured interview to elicit views on this issue from 7 principals and 14 teachers in the Arab education system in Israel. The findings indicate a conflictual reality. Interviewees expressed fear, humiliation and affront when required to obey Ministry of Education instructions in contradiction to attitudes prevalent in their society. They therefore developed coping strategies to foster students’ national identity without disrupting the necessary balance; primarily the construction of a covert learning program through manipulations in the official overt learning program. This study contributes to our understanding of minority education in a reality of conflict between the state and its national minority.     

Challenging the myths about madaris in Pakistan: A national household survey of enrolment and reasons for choosing religious schools

There is speculation about madaris in Pakistan as sources of terrorists and about levels and reasons for enrolment, but a dearth of empirical data. We studied madarsah enrolment among 53,960 representative households; 853 focus groups of parents discussed enrolment choices. In 2004, 2.6% of all children (3.8% of school-going children) aged 5–9 years attended a madarsah. Children from urban and less educated households were more likely to attend a madarsah, but there was no difference by sex of the child or household vulnerability. Parents chose madaris because they offered an Islamic education. Our findings challenge misconceptions about madaris in Pakistan.     

Interaction between seed size and NaCl on germination and early seedling growth of some Turkish cultivars of chickpea （Cicer arietinum L.）

Chickpea is an important food legume crop of Turkey and is largely grown for human consumption on low moisture or salt-affected soils.The objective of the study was to find the effects of NaCl stress at electrical conductivities of 4.5,8.6,12.7 and 16.3 dS/m and seed sizes (7,8 and 9 mm) on germination and early seedling growth of three popular chickpea cultivars (AKN-97,Gokce and Uzunlu-99).Mean frequency of germination,germination time,germination index,root length,shoot length and seedling fresh weight showed seed size-dependent responses of cultivars to salt stress.In general,small seeds germinated and grew more rapidly compared to medium and large seeds of the same cultivars against all levels of salt stress,with the best results in cultivar Uzunlu-99.No effect of NaCl treatments was observed on frequency of germination; however,a drastic decrease in early seedling growth was recorded at increased NaCl concentrations.Regression analysis results showed a significantly positive rela-tionship (P<0.01) between seed size and mean germination time,whereas a significantly negative relationship was recorded between seed size and germination index,root length,shoot length.Moreover,linear regression values apparently confirmed that increased seed size in each cultivar affected decreased germination index,root and shoot lengths with enhanced mean germination time.Thus,it was concluded that the use of small seeds could considerably reduce the production costs of chickpea in salt-affected soils.