RESEARCH SECTION: Examining the nature and perceived causes of indiscipline in Zimbabwean secondary schools

The problem of student indiscipline is an issue of concern for teachers and parents around the world. Teachers need to maintain student discipline and for them to do so it is important that they also understand the nature of discipline problems. This study, by Lawrence Kofi Ametepee, who is studying for a PhD in special education, Morgan Chitiyo, board certified behaviour analyst and Assistant Professor of Special Education, both at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, USA, and Susan Abu, who is currently a graduate student in the Department of Women's Studies at Texas Women's University, was designed to examine the nature and perceived causes of student indiscipline in Zimbabwean secondary schools. The authors anticipate that such an examination will promote teachers’, parents’ and policy makers’ understanding of student indiscipline, which will, in turn, enhance disciplinary policies and practices, making schools safer for all students and more effective in their role as educational and socialising agents.     

A Symbiosis of Access: Proliferating STEM PhD Training in the U.S. from 1920–2010

Minerva - Over the course of the 20th century, unprecedented growth in scientific discovery was fueled by broad growth in the number of university-based scientists. During this period the American...     

Measuring Communication Styles in the Malaysian Workplace: Instrument Development and Validation

The aim of the present study is to access communication style in the Malaysian workplace through the development and validation of a communication scale appropriate to the Malaysian workplace. The analysis involved data from 200 state development employees, and construct and criterion-related validation using data from 510 employees, representing three organizations in Malaysia. The results provided support for the use of language (pekerti) and communication and interaction (bicara) as crucial communication dimensions for the Malaysian workplace, which are identified from the item-generation procedure.     

Shaping global teacher identity in a short-term mobility programme

This article explores the shaping of Australian and Malaysian pre-service teachers’ possible selves in a short-term mobility programme. With the theory of possible selves, individuals imagine who they will become based on their past and current selves. The focus of the research was on pre-service teachers’ possible selves as global and culturally responsive teachers. The experiential learning through participation in the programme allowed participants to consider their future possible selves as teachers with a deeper understanding of diverse learners’ needs and how they might strive to address these needs in their own classrooms. The scaffolding of reflections in the programme encouraged the pre-service teachers to take on multiple perspectives, to step outside their comfort zones and in many ways to see the world from different eyes. The research found that through experiential learning in the short-term mobility programme both the Australian and Malaysian pre-service teachers gained in positioning their cultural selves currently and as future teachers, suggesting that there is merit in utilising the theory of possible selves in future research in the area of shaping teacher identity.     

Gender differences in attitudes towards learning oral skills using technology

This paper reports a quantitative study on gender differences in attitudes when learning oral skills via technology. The study was conducted at Tafila Technical University, Jordan, with 70 female and 30 male students, to find out if female students are better and faster in learning a language than male. Specifically, it seeks to investigate differences in attitudes between females and males in terms of practicality, confidence and anxiety. The results of the study show that there were no significant differences between female and male students when comparing the pre- and post-test mean scores. Both genders establish the same levels of attitudes before and after undergoing this course, which suggests that the exposure to language learning using technology did not contribute to any significant gender inequality. The paired sample t-test results showed improved attitudes toward learning oral skills in both females and males. The study also indicates female and male improvement in the anxiety dimension showing that their initial strong apprehension toward this course was greatly reduced at the end of the course. In terms of confidence, female showed better enhanced confidence level than male at the end of the course.     

An approach to web-based Personal Health Records filtering using fuzzy prototypes and data quality criteria

Nowadays, new ways of managing and accessing to health-care information are continuously appearing. Web-based Personal Health Records (web PHRs) have the potential to make data about health-care available to clinicians, researchers and students in different medical contexts and applications. Therefore, the amount of web PHRs accessible through Internet has grown enormously and as a result health-care professionals are currently burdened with more and more data. It’s probable that these data, unfortunately, have not always the adequate levels of quality, making that their work cannot always be as successful as expected. As a way of alleviating this fact, the present work is focused on improving the document filtering results in the context of web PHRs management. To achieve this goal, a new kind of document filtering model is proposed. This model is based on fuzzy prototypes which are defined by means of conceptual prototypes. These prototypes are obtained by using a data quality analysis of documents. This analysis guarantees that filtered information will be relevant enough for the information user. The complete model provides an efficient strategy of document filtering that can be very useful when it is necessary to deal with a constant flow of new information.     

Are We Tolerant Enough to Read Each Other's Culture? Evidence From Three Different Social Contexts

This study investigated the effect of cultural background of second‐language (L2) readers in different social contexts: Israeli Arabs, a minority learning Hebrew in Israel; Israeli Jews learning Arabic as L3; and Arab immigrants in Canada learning English as L2. Participants had to read related and unrelated cultural stories in their L1 and L2/L3. Results revealed that Arab students in the multicultural Canadian context better understood the unrelated cultural stories, while in both Israeli social contexts Arab and Jewish students found it difficult to read unrelated cultural stories. Comprehension results are discussed in light of the role of multiculturalism and ‘melting pot’ policies in shaping minority students’ social orientations.     

Transforming evaluation thinking and behaviour: programmes develop,teachers learn and student learning outcomes improve

This article examines evaluation intervention influence on programme performance through surveys, qualitative evaluation, questionnaires, interviews and test scores. The study uses quantitative (SPANOVA and MANOVA) and qualitative (the constant comparative method) data analysis, together with examining practical significance through effect size and power analysis. Major findings show positive contributions of evaluation intervention to quality management, teacher pedagogical skills and student learning outcomes (SLOs). Quantitative and qualitative findings, however, diverge regarding evaluation impact on programme research. A positive transfer of evaluation ownership discourse from decision-maker to implementer stakeholders has been observed. The study recommends evaluation intervention for programme, institutional and individual development alongside quality improvement.     

An introduction to education research methods: exploring the learning journey of pre-service teachers in a transnational programme

Internationally there is interest in developing the research skills of pre-service teachers as a means of ongoing professional renewal with a distinct need for systematic and longitudinal investigation of student learning. The current study takes a unique perspective by exploring the research learning journey of pre-service teachers participating in a transnational degree programme. Using a case-study design that includes both a self-reported and direct measure of research knowledge, the results indicate a progression in learning, as well as evidence that this research knowledge is continued or maintained when the pre-service teachers return to their home university. The findings of this study have implications for both pre-service teacher research training and transnational programmes.