International Journal of Instruction
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Covid-19, Stress Factors of Native American and Caucasian College Students, and Implementing Classroom Dialogues
No full textThis article explores issues associated with the academic and greater health, relational, and financial stressors of rural, low socioeconomic status (SES), Native American college students, compared with those of regional Caucasians, during the Covid-19 pandemic. Additionally, the study considers concerns about both populations’ low proclivity within the classroom for discussing students’ individual and group identities, as well as their pandemic stressors and experiences, in order to seek community and provide mutual assistance regarding their academic and larger needs. Further, the study offers faculty important dialogical strategies for reaching their Native, rural, or similarly marginalized ethnic/racial minority, geographically disadvantaged, and/or low SES students during stressful periods of difficulty and epic proportion, such as the current pandemic. Utilizing an exploratory case-study design with a mixed-methods approach and a convergentparallel strategy, the study involves 114 Native and 114 Caucasian students from a U.S. university. During the pandemic, both Native and Caucasian students surveyed reported stress levels in 12 areas affecting their educational, health, relational, and economic outcomes. As an issue, overall, Native students were affected more adversely than Caucasians by the pandemic, but both populations, suffering from stressors, might have benefited or profited more from sharing and processing their experiences within a classroom setting, if desired, and if such a forum had been made available. Nonetheless, in turn, another conflict arose as many students were also reluctant to cover the pandemic, including its effects on themselves; were fatigued of the subject; and thought their beliefs would be seen as insignificant. Accordingly, this article calls upon teachers to engage in greater efforts to support peripheralized students during perilous and monumental times, such as the current pandemic, by implementing a classroom dialogue and curriculum supporting students’ academic, personal, and larger identities and needs as students wished to share them
The Learning Performance of Indigenous Students in Nepali Private Schools: A Mixed-Methods Study
No full textOne of the primary goals of schools is to improve the students' learning performance. Considering the factors associated to students' indigeneity contributing to their learning performances, this study explored the learning performances of ‘indigenous’ (Janajati) students in Nepali private secondary schools. Grounded in Bourdieu's (1986) cultural capital theory, the investigation employed a two-staged mixed-methods research process. In the first phase, longitudinal data (grade XII exam results) of 770 students between 2015 and 2019 at a case study school in Kathmandu were obtained and analysed. The quantitative results yielded from the descriptive analyses revealed that Janajati students, namely the Tamang, Magar, Gurung, Rai, and Limbu students included in the study, had a lower academic performance as compared to their non-Janajati counterparts. These results are consonant with overall national patterns in Nepal. In an attempt to explain these differences, a sequential qualitative study was undertaken through indepth interviews with five participants (three students and two teachers affiliated to the case study school from the same indigenous groups). For analytical purposes, factors influencing students’ performance were grouped into home-related and school-related themes. The study showed that home-related factors were more prevalent than the school-related factors in the students with lower learning performances. While family economic backgrounds and parental education also had a role to play, cultural factors (such as relative lack of predisposition towards education and aspiration for different occupations) were the most important factors influencing lower learning performance
Trial of Synthetic Phonics extended to Storybook Reading to Improve Reading Skills of Indonesian Third Graders Enrolled in a Bilingual School
No full textStudies have shown that phonics instruction improves reading skills, with noticeable word recognition and pronunciation results. Despite the intensive use of this method in English countries, phonics has not been introduced or is minimally taught in Indonesian primary schools' English reading classes, where the teaching is mainly focused on text comprehension. This study aims to trial a systematic instruction in synthetic phonics to see whether the trial helps students improve their pronunciation and comprehension skills. Thirty-third graders from an Indonesian bilingual school and their English teachers were selected to participate in a sixmonth trial of synthetic phonics instruction, extended to a storybook reading programme. Pre- and post-experimental design was employed to measure the trial's effectiveness. Teachers' interviews and students' questionnaires were used to understanding their perspectives on the trial's benefits and feasibility for further implementation. The findings revealed that the trial accelerated students' decoding skills and improved word pronunciation and text comprehension. Another test of a paired sample t-test also highlighted the trial's significance (sig .01). Students also shared their experiences of improved vocabulary, confidence and enjoyment. The teachers agreed on the benefits of the trial. Still, they were unsure how to deliver the instruction in regular classroom sessions since it required long and vigorous direct teaching. Findings from this trial were not generalizable to EFL reading classes in Indonesian primary schools as it was tried out in a bilingual school where phonics was minimally introduced. However, the findings generally indicated the program's feasibility which can be re-tested
Education and Instruction for Circular Economy: A Review on Drivers and Barriers in Circular Economy Implementation in China
No full textAs a new sustainable alternative to linear economics, the circular economy (CE) is bound to be accompanied by the requirements of the existing production model, science and technology, as well as the public perception of CE. To expose the potential impact of higher education on CE transition, this study systematically reviewed the relevant literature on the drivers and barriers to CE with a mixed analytical method. CiteSpace was used to perform bibliometric analysis and visual presentation of 367 literature accurately retrieved by search formula from two international influential databases, Web of Science and Scopus, and two significant Chinese databases, CNKI and CQVIP. In the results, we identified the number of publications and citations, the annual distribution of publications, annual citation trends, county distribution of publication contribution, the most-cited articles, and the co-citation networks. Moreover, we clarified the main drivers and barriers to CE in China by conducting qualitative content of the keywords related to driver and barrier factors in the literature. The results suggest that higher education has a positive influence on strengthening the main drivers and eliminating the main barriers, which implies that higher education has bright prospects in speeding up the CE transition. To maximize the effect of higher education for CE, we suggested university leaders and lecturers should adopt effective education and instruction measures in improving the performance of education activities for CE, so that the future leaders of various industries in universities could construct CE values and behavior patterns to achieve the replacement of traditional linear economy
Integration of Project-Based E-Learning with STEAM: An Innovative Solution to Learn Ecological Concept
No full textThe Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics (STEAM) approach is increasingly used as it is believed to be capable of facilitating students to understand subjects and adjust to the 21st century competency framework. Integrating a project-based learning (PjBL) model with STEAM is part of good teaching practice. The PjBL-STEAM learning is conducted online (e-learning) to facilitate students in accessing learning content due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The research analyzes the PjBeL-STEAM learning model on the improvement of students’ concept mastery in ecological concepts. The learning emphasizes project activities by conducting an independent practicum and creating an animation of biogeochemical cycles. The research involves 72 students of Grade 10 in one of the senior high schools (SMA) in Jakarta. Instruments employed in the research include pretest and posttest of the mastery of ecological concepts. Data is analyzed using independent sample t-test. The research results indicate that the PjBeLSTEAM learning model improves students’ mastery of ecological concepts. The research has a limitation related to the assessment of students’ attitudes that is not conducted due to online learning
The Impact of After School Science Club on the Learning Progress and Attainment of Students
No full textThis study reports the measured impact of attendance at after school science club (ASSC) on the progress and attainment of Key stages 3 and 4 students in a coeducation academy in the UK. The research was experimental in design and collected data from both a control and an experimental group of participants, 17 and 140 respectively. Data were collected through observation, questionnaires, focus groups and test performance scores. The data were subjected to various statistical analyses using SPSS. The means of performance scores for students in both control and experimental groups were tested for significance at different time points using Welch’s T-test, and the effect of the ASSC on science performance scores across the different time points for both groups was tested (pre and posttests) using the Kruskal Wallis test. The questionnaire was analyzed using thematic analysis with recurrent themes identified following a process of coding to establish the skills that students can gain from attending and participating in an ASSC. The study found that the experimental group, who attended ASSC showed improvements in their academic attainment although most participants identified the acquisition of non-academic skills as the more significant outcome of their engagement. These skills included collaboration and teamwork, leadership and communication skills, and confidence in learning. Drawing on the findings, the study provides evidence that discipline-specific after-school clubs can facilitate learning and recommends that discipline-informed extra-curricular activities should be promoted in facilitating learning in STEM subjects
An Investigation into English-Majored Students’ Self-assessment of Their Speaking Performance
No full textSelf-assessment with corrective training has been long seen crucial in helping learners improve their own work. This study investigates a group of 28 Englishmajored students’ self-assessment of their Speaking performance at the end of a Speaking course at a university. First, the study explores their knowledge of the speaking test and then it provides them with 11 meetings of training on and practising using a speaking rubric which centres on the four grading criteria: Fluency and coherence, Pronunciation, Grammatical range, and Lexical resources. The participants’ perception about their speaking performance after they took the speaking test is also explored. Finally, two examiners are employed to rate these students’ speaking performance. The results revealed that the participants were found to be knowledgeable about the requirements in doing the test. Then, for their self-assessment on their test performance, they used the trained rubric to help them rate their work quite well, which highly correlated with the result of the teachers’ rating which was also correlated with the average score of the two raters. The students’ perceptions about their ability to perform these four Speaking grading criteria after taking the test also unveiled a strong connection to their overall selfassessment result
The Influence of Meaning in Life and Teacher Leadership on Teacher Professionalism through Structural Equation Model
No full textProfessional teacher is one of fundamental factors that influences students’ success in learning. Therefore, identifying influencing factors can give insight to improve the teachers’ professionalism efficiently. The research aims to measure two internal factors, namely meaning in life and teacher leadership, in influencing teacher professionalism. Quantitative with a cross-sectional survey was further applied using explanatory research to examine private junior high school teachers in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Using a random sampling technique, 150 teachers was selected as samples. The data were then analyzed through structural equation modeling with smartPLS version 3.3.0. The measurement proved that meaning in life positively influenced the teachers’ professionalism and teacher’s leadership with a p-value of 0.000 and T-statistic for each is 8.094 and 6.887, respectively. Similarly, teacher leadership positively influences teacher professionalism, with a p-value of 0.000 and T-statistics of 4.554. Besides, meaning in life through teacher leadership contributes to teacher professionalism with a p-value of 0.000. These results recommended the meaning in life and teacher leadership as the internal factors in planning the teacher professional development policy because, to date, the focus was only on the external factor
Development of Instrument Numeracy Skills Test of Minimum Competency Assessment (MCA) in Indonesia
No full textIndonesia has changed the national assessment of school students from the national exam (NE) to the minimum competency assessment (MCA) in 2021. In the minimum competency assessment, one of the student's abilities measured is numeracy skills. So that the valid, practical, and effective assessment instruments that evaluate students' numeracy skills are needed. This study described the feasibility of developing a numeracy test instrument for minimum competency assessments and described students' numeracy abilities. This research was development research. This research involved junior high school students with different mathematical abilities. The data were analyzed descriptively by collecting observations, tests and document analysis. This study showed that the development of test instruments could be used as a reference to measure students' numeracy skills. The test instrument was categorized as very feasible, valid and practical. The test results indicated that there was a potential effect on students' numeracy skills. In solving numeracy test questions, the potential effect of the test instrument on numeracy skills was 75.69%, with the emerging mathematical understanding ability of 80.22%, the ability to apply mathematics in problem-solving by 74.94%, and mathematical reasoning ability of 71.93 %
Empirical Study of Factors Affecting the Students' Mathematics Learning Achievement
No full textStudent achievement in learning mathematics is considerably low in Indonesia. This study aims to discuss factors affecting learning achievements in mathematics in Indonesia, including direct and indirect influences, such as students' perception of teacher competence, learning anxiety, problem-solving ability, learning motivation, and mathematical connection ability. Quantitative approach and correlational method were used with a sample comprising 171 class XI students of Senior High School in Purworejo Regency, Central Java. The stratified cluster random sampling technique was used to determine the sample composition based on the National Examination scores for the 2018/2019 academic year. The results showed that four variables, except anxiety, significantly influence learning achievement. Furthermore, mathematical connection ability had the greatest direct impact on learning success at 0.38. Other indirect factors, such as influence through learning motivation and problem-solving ability, were at 0.140 and 0.133, respectively. These results are in line with previous studies which stated that mathematical connection ability is an important aspect in achieving student learning achievement. The ability to connect various materials studied with topics inside and outside mathematics has helped students understand the material to improve learning achievement. Furthermore, teachers can use these results as references in learning management by paying attention to various aspects, especially mathematical connection ability