1,720,956 research outputs found
How Does Gender Relate to Interpersonal Skills? Exploring Differences in Interpersonal Skills among Primary School Pupils
Full text linkThe current study examined gender differences in interpersonal skills among standard four primary education pupils. Interpersonal skill is a crucial ability that contributes to positive development among primary school pupils. This quantitative research was conducted in the public primary schools of Babati Township Council, Manyara region. The study randomly involved 340 standard four primary school pupils from 17 purposely selected schools (ten boys and ten girls from each school) and their class teachers who were also purposely selected. The assessment tool for pupils was adopted from the MESSY-II (Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters –II) to assess interpersonal skills among the selected pupils. T-test was used to test the differences between girls and boys concerning the possession of interpersonal skills. The findings show no significant statistical difference between boys and girls possessing interpersonal skills. This is reflected in both the 'means' and 'p-values'. This study concludes that interpersonal skills are vital for them to prosper academically. Having no significant difference between boys and girls, the study deviates from a body of literature that signifies the difference between the tw
Students’ Perception on the Quality of Open and Distance Learning Programmes in Tanzania
No full textA controversial topic in higher education today revolves around the enormous growth of distance education. The issues surrounding quality of distance education have been discussed and debated by many different parties. Regardless of who is interested in this unique educational environment that distance education establishes, “all stress the need to have a better understanding of what contributes to quality†in distance education programmes. This study aimed at assessing the quality of open and distance learning programmes from students‟ point of view. The sample was drawn from the Open University of Tanzania‟s students in nine University regional centres from Tanzania mainland and it constituted 305 students. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were employed, since there is no single technique which is necessarily superior over the others. The factors assessed ranged from registration procedures, accesses to course instructors, administrative processes, course materials, instructional methods, clarity of syllabus, exam processes and the like. The findings showed that about 71.5% students have a positive perception on the overall quality of distance education in Tanzania. About 63.6% of participants were very likely to recommend open and distance learning to others, while 34.8% were somewhat likely to do so. The major weaknesses found were insufficiency of study material, internet services and academic staff in regional centres. The study therefore concludes that quality of higher education via open and distance learning is achieved by demonstrating that the quality of content, delivery, assessment and outcomes in ODL institutions is equal to, or better than, the traditional forms of education
Teaching Numeracy Skills in Early Childhood Education in Mkuranga District, Tanzania: Teachers’ Practices and Challenges
No full textThe significance of the early years in shaping children's cognitive, emotional, language, and social development is widely recognised. This study investigated the numeracy teaching practices and challenges in pre-primary schools. This qualitative study was conducted in Mkuranga District, using a phenomenology design; nine (9) public schools were purposely selected for the study. The participants involved were pre-primary education class teachers who were also purposely selected. This was carried out after defining the study purpose and developing the inclusion criteria. The sample was homogeneous, as the recruited participants had similar characteristics and experiences. Participants were visited in their schools. Thematic data analysis was employed, where patterns (themes) were identified, analysed and interpreted. It was found that teachers focused on teaching children how to count numbers, addition, and subtraction. The findings revealed that teachers were not conversant with teaching numeracy skills to pre-primary children. Several challenges in relation to numeracy skills teaching, such as a lack of qualified teachers, overcrowded classrooms, changing curricula, and children’s absenteeism, were also found. The study, therefore, concludes that numeracy remains a key domain of learning, which is essential for success at school, providing a bridge to further study and work, and preparing children for future economic and social prosperity. Thus, teaching numeracy in pre-primary schools should be well structured to meet the intended goal
Relationship between Social Competence and Reading Skills Acquisition in Primary School Pupils: Teachers’ Knowledge, Perceptions and Practices.
Full text linkThis study set out to examine the relationship between social competence skills and reading skills acquisition in public primary school pupils. The key objectives of the
study were to; explore the factors that hinder the acquisition of reading skills in pupils,establish teachers‘ knowledge of social competence skills, examine the
perceptions of teachers on the role of social competence skills on reading skills acquisition, appraise the social competence and reading skills enhancing practices employed by teachers in schools, and analyse the association between social competence and reading skills acquisition by primary school pupils. The study was guided by the Socio cultural and Social Learning Theories. A mixed-methods approach was adopted, as well as convergent parallel design.The population of the study was standard four pupils, standard four class teachers, standard four Kiswahili subject teachers, head teachers and parents/guardians. The study was conducted in 17 purposefully selected schools, where 340 pupils were randomly (20 from each school), 42 teachers, and ten parents/guardians were purposefully selected. Data were
collected using observation, interview, questionnaire, and documentary review techniques. The analysis of interviews, observations and documentary review proceeded through the following three main steps: preparing and organising data,
creating categories/themes, and coding, presentation and interpretation. For quantitative data, logistic regression analysis was run to estimate the impact of social
competence skills on binary outcomes, while Ordinary Least Square Regression (OLS) with multiple predictors was used to estimate outcomes of continuous variables. The findings show that there were a number of factors that hindered the
acquisition of reading skills in the pupils. It was further revealed that all teachers
knew the concept of social competence. It was found that pupils with social competence skills were in a good position to acquire and the reading skills faster than their counterparts. The participatory teaching method was mostly reported in enhancing reading skills in pupils; followed by pairing pupils, the use of extra hours, the use of libraries, parental involvement in the pupils‘ reading-related activities, and school feeding programmes. As for social competence skills, there were no specific practices that were solely meant to develop them. Rather, the practices fordeveloping social competence skills were coincidentally and unknowingly,embedded in those for developing the reading skills and other academic subjects. The most important social competence skills are communication skills, as other skills depend on the pupil‘s ability to communicate his/her ideas well. Findings from the
questionnaire showed no significant relationship between social competence skills and the acquisition and mastery of reading skills. The study, however, concludes that
social competence skills have a positive impact on pupils‘ acquisition of reading skills. The study recommends a reviewed curriculum that imparts pupils with social
competence skills for an everlasting positive effect on the pupil‘s lives, positive social interactions and academic achievements
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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