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Many researchers have shown that the history of science (HOS) in the field of geometrical optics (GO) has a positive effect on conceptual change. In their studies, they conclude that the HOS may increase the interest of students towards learning and therefore their motivation. Current research seeks to determine the effect of a sequence of instruction on the development of concepts OG, between antiquity and the 17th century on the learning motivation among students. The sample consisted of 60 students enrolled in the first university year SNV department (sciences of nature and life). We have divided them into two equal groups (experimental and control). A scale to measure motivation to learn OG (EMOG) was developed and standardised. An Analysis, pres-test and post-test was performed for the two groups. Encouraging results in terms of intrinsic motivation are favourable for the integration of the HOS in the course of the OG.
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Designing a continuing education program in e-learning system requires both pedagogical, and some organizational, logistical, technical and technological demands. Given the complexity of designing e-learning activities and the need to adapt it to the characteristics of the learners, we consider that any e-learning training experience is an opportunity to analyze the effectiveness of this model. The study herein aims to reveal the impact of an e-learning training program on a group of 159 Romanian teachers from kindergarten and primary school. We inferred, based on collected opinions, ways to optimize the continuing education programs of this type. To achieve these goals, a questionnaire was applied to teachers who participated in an e-learning program on ICT. Several aspects of the program were evaluated by subjects on a 6 points scale. One of the items asked the learners free answers on the possibilities to optimize the e-learning training programs. The analysis of the results indicates predominantly positive views of teachers with respect to the conduct of the e-learning program. However, beyond the benefits of online learning, teachers stated that they felt the need to communicate face to face with the tutors, at least once during the training. They also pointed out that it was important for the content to be clear, accessible, with more instructional information, and to avoid the tendency to theorize. Based on the teachers’ perceptions about their online training experience, we observed two directions that should be kept in mind to improve e-learning programs: the design of learning content according to the e-learning principles and the diversification of communication networks.
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In the Romanian pre-school education system, the contents proposed for teaching are specified in the curricular documents that regulate the formative activity. Periodically restructured and resized, these contents are listed today in the document (in force since 2008) known as the Curriculum for the early education of children aged three to six/seven (Curriculumul pentru educaţia timpurie a copiilor de la 3 la 6/7 ani). In Romanian kindergartens, the above-mentioned regulating reference suggests a radical change of view of the contents offered to pre-schoolers, as well as of the goals, the manner of conception and the actual realisation of all the pre-school activities, in accordance with the most recent trends in early education policies in many countries of the world, and the explicit subscription to the curricular perspective on training. The present study contains the results of an analysis of the Curriculum for the early education of children aged three to six/seven (2008) in Romania; the research is of a qualitative type and is based on the assessment of the afore-mentioned document from the perspective of several value categories: moral, civic, esthetic, scientific, and others. The collected data lead to several conclusions regarding structured value orientations, the worth of the regulating reference considered (as compared to some earlier versions) and the trends in structuring educational policy instruments for pre-school level.
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At the moment, being a school director in Romania means a temporary school running position which any teacher from the school can possess and lose after a period of a 4-year mandate. More often, the uncertainty stemming from the ambigous legal framework discourages the teachers in choosing to become school directors or the complex managerial tasks make the school director’s position not so attractive. In order to become a profession, the legal framework of the education system in our country should be adjusted especially concerning the official recognition on the labour market of this managerial position in education. An important step forward has been made by the organization at national level of the managerial training courses for school directors in order to set clear competence standards. These changes in the education legislation will lead to clear provisions regarding the school director’s status.
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The present study investigates the relationship between general humor use and styles of handling interpersonal conflicts with peers among university students, as well as the possible influence of gender and residence area. Data was collected from a sample of 120 Romanian students enrolled in a large public university, by self-reported measures of humor use and conflict resolution styles. Results indicate significant positive correlation between humor and integrating, compromising and avoiding style, respectively. Gender was found to significantly moderate the relation between humor and the integrating style, this correlation being stronger for female students. Also, students coming from urban areas reported a greater tendency to use humor, integrating and compromising styles than those from rural areas. These outcomes suggest that university teachers and adults’ trainers should pay additional attention to humor, as a useful tool for developing skills for constructive conflict resolution.
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The experience of recent decades has shown increasing concern of international organizations and institutions to ensure equal conditions and chances in society for persons with special needs that find themselves in various difficult situations and are socially disadvantaged in relation to the other members of the community they belong to. Persons with special needs and their organizations, as well as other organizations or forums of the civil society, together with the governmental authorities of each state have the responsibility to unite and act for removing existing barriers that hinder disabled persons from exerting their rights and liberties and to establish a climate of cooperation and partnership favorable to mobilizing all resources with the purpose of enhancing the awareness of the members of society concerning the needs, potential and contribution of these persons to the life of the community they are part of.
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The present study shows the conclusions of a broader research initiative carried out over a period of three years, between 2008 and 2011. The research study aimed at making an interpretive analysis of the organisational culture as a determinant of school climate with a view to identify the staff’s levels of satisfaction and achievement, while focusing on the linking role of organisational behaviour in the culture-climate rapport.
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The success of higher education institutions is also measured by the number of trained graduates who enter the labor market in firms recognized for assessing and promoting a high performance. Our article brings to attention several research results obtained by evidence based studies conducted by "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" University of Iaşi (Romania) on the subject of competences training and collaboration with the labor market. Our research aims to identify the training needs of students in terms of transversal skills and methods needed for this, according to students and training tutors of students in internships. Also, our research explores the students and tutors’ opinion on the need of a formal network with different actors with shared responsibilities in terms of transversal competences training. The methods of data collection were based on questionnaires survey and in-depth interviews. The data were processed using the statistical software Sphinx Plus2. Based on the research results we propose a model of transversal competences training approach. It assumes that there is a need for an expanded network with more actors that must take efforts and shared responsibilities. This model could be useful for redesigning the curriculum in universities.
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Teacher evaluation is a topic of major interest in the world, the main reasons being to know and improve the teachers’ performances and, implicitly, those of the educational systems. A first objective of this paper is to draw a synthetic portrait of the trends in teacher evaluation at a global level, highlighting their main perspectives. Thus, there are three clear directions in the educational policy of teacher evaluation: the elaboration of reference standards, the introduction of collaborative structures and the evaluation of teachers according to the students’ performances. The second objective is to perform a radiography of the Romanian teacher evaluation system and compare it to the orientations identified at the global level. To this effect, we shall analyse the practiced evaluative forms and procedures, as well as some legislative renewals in the Romanian teacher evaluation system.
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Recent legislative changes regarding the status of religious education in schools bring about the rethinking of the content of this school subject. Pupils ‘attending Religious Education classes only upon explicitly written request of their parents or of their legal tutors and also the possibility of choosing between Religious Education and Moral and Civic Education classes make us think about restructuring the knowledge and values content of this subject. In what follows we put forth several ways of reconsidering the content of Religious Education with a view to achieving cultural, inter-confessional and interdisciplinary integration, as a way of increasing the interest of the pupils, teachers and parents in this school subject.
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The global aim of the present research is to investigate those types of serious, visible norm deviations of Romanian teachers from all the levels of education, which have made the subject of discussion during meetings of the Teachers’ Councils as a form of peer evaluation and collegial control. The specific purposes of the research are: analysis of the didactic status of teachers who commit deviations; identification of the agents reporting the deviation; classification of frequent norm deviations of teachers according to their nature and source; analysis of the administrative sanctions frequently applied following the deviations. The research method was the questionnaire, elaborated precisely for the purpose of achieving the research objectives. A total of 91 Romanian teachers participated in the study. Overall, the results indicate eight categories of deviations, the most frequent and relevant are violence against students, absenteeism and classroom management problems. The persons denouncing the deviations have included students, teachers and principals, and the penalties of deviations have mainly been pedagogical recommendations and salary cuts.
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This study explored the grade level differences in the role of three contextual factors – the perceived support from parents, teachers and peers – on students’ achievement. In the first semester, 402 students from the fifth to the eighth grades reported their perception of parental, teacher and peer support. Scale measuring adolescents’ perception of parenting style and their relationships with teacher and peers were filled in at the beginning of the first semester. The achievement was measured at the end of the first and second semesters. Results indicated that perceived parent, teacher and peer support interacted in predicting achievement, and that these interactions were moderated by the grade level.
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