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Youth field has been in constant evolution during the restoration period of Estonian independence, since 1991. The theoretical overview is about youth worker professionalism, associated with the developments in the European and Estonian youth field and in the context of the Berliner competency levels development model. It explains the expectations set for youth workers, to teaching and youth field institutions.Youth work is expected, like formal education, with more clearly defined educational goals, and it is emphasized that it is a non-formal education. An important aspect is enjoying of the activities and its educational elements. The National Curriculum for Basic Schools and Gymnasium (2011) sets the expectations that the non-formal education will give more support to students to complete the curriculum of formal education. Youth work in Estonia is an essential component of the educational system. Therefore, the professionalism of youth workers and their coping with new challenges is very important. Over the last ten years, major changes in the Estonian youth worker professionalism and in the aspects of professional development haven’t been mentioned. The answers are briefly: in Estonia youth worker profession has been associated with the development of youth field, but the staff preparation is very different and characterised by low working experience. Berliner presented development model of competency levels, treats the professional development as long-term, complex process, distinguishing between the five stages of development of the professional staff, which are also regarded in the context of the professional development of the youth worker. Youth work quality is dependent on the availability of professional youth workers and in order to gain it, the high mobility inside the sector should be reduced, a better situation and more support should be created for the formation of youth worker professionalism at the various levels of the professional growth.
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I would like to thank the editor for the space to share my ideas about the selected problems of education. One of them is relative independence of college world and the world of elementary and high schools. There are in brief form described relative problems and suggested the possibilities how to solve them. What is the importance of research studies focused on the education for teachers or for future teachers? It is a very actual question, because the activity of researchers on education should also aim on the teachers and future teachers. But in many countries the world of academicians (in this case we are focused on the academicians working in the faculties of education) is detached from the world of teaching and problems of teachers. So, there is another question. Why the cooperation between academicians and teachers in some countries is functional and in some countries these two worlds are living separately? The mistake could be found in the activity of academicians. Their activity should also be focused on the improving of learning and teaching. The academicians have got many activities. They are teaching, predominantly future teachers, they are writing manuscripts (as we all are hoping), they are attending conferences, where they are changing kinds of information with their colleagues from other faculties. They are writing proposals of grants. They are working administrative and other kinds of jobs for department and other activities.
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The purpose of this research was to determine the effectiveness of various teaching methods used in higher education and the perception of the students regarding these methods. In order to determine the possible ways to obtain strategic advantages and benefit from the strengths, the university has to know what drives foreign students in choosing a certain study program, even if it is outside their country of origin. At the same time, knowing the disadvantages that prevent them from doing so, helps the university include ways to correct the weaknesses or to offer solutions to them. The students, participating in this research, are enrolled at the European University in Madrid, from different study programs and degrees (license, master and doctoral programs) and were asked to answer a questionnaire about the use of teaching methods, about their perceptions upon effective teaching and the reasons that have determined them to choose to follow a study program. The results were in favor of a higher use of projects, group activities and case studies during classes and seminars at the European University of Madrid and of using new technologies in the educational system (e-learning, simulations, use of intranet, and activities in laboratories). As a primer characteristic searched for when choosing a study program, the students mentioned practice, mainly for developing abilities useful for applying for a job as soon as possible.It is, therefore, important to analyze the teaching methods and this research helps us understand how students see the teaching process and which are the methods that help them to better understand and to be more active during classes.
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Problem of setting. Public government – it political practice of power which is carried out within the limits of the constitutionally political system and has a direct influence on all industries of life of socium is important. An effective public management in Ukraine must provide the state of stability, implementation of social obligations the states, deserving a condition for realization of congratulatory, financial, spiritual and social necessities of citizens; but him high-quality indexes far imperfect and characterized the plural ofproblems. Recent research and publications analysis. The questions of modernization andreforms of the system of state administration, constructions of the legal, social state, socialand political processes are actively probed in the scientific mind of Ukraine, by the necessityof achievement of balance between the vital necessities of societies and interests of thestate. Quite a bit Ukrainian scientists were engaged in researches of these questions –V. Kostytsky, І. Kostytska, O. Koban, A. Kovalenko, O. Batanov, I. Reznik, G. Chapala,M. Pukhtinskiy et al.Paper objective – ground of position, that a public management in Ukraine, which iscarried out by public organs, local self-government, political parties and groups of politicalinfluence, must correlate with public resonance, to support the legitimity and answer tothe innovative tendencies.Paper main body. A management in the public sphere of the state is very difficultprofessional activity, and foresees state and legal responsibility and account of publicinterests and expectations. However, disfunctions and destructions of public managementcan draw social and political instability, cutback of economic activity or regress, evenweakening of sovereignty of the state. The criteria of political modernization matter verymuch for modern Ukraine: capacity of the political system for perception of innovationsand mobilization of resources of power, structural and functional perfection of institutesof policy, powerful «social elevators» for equal access of people to imperious positions,effectiveness of principle of «equality all before a law».To Ukraine, as to the young state which passed by democratic transit, naturally peculiarstrategy of reforms. Reformation is a not workaday situation for a country, it generatescalls and problems. Among them most difficult is destructive of political power, whatdemocratic development of country and becoming of civil institutes is braked through.Sociological researches rotined that a population considered: «The state must take moreresponsibility in providing of life of citizens» (68,6 %). Stably negative is attitude of peopletoward a department judicial, which loses a «social capital» through inability to the justlegal proceeding and mercenary political interests. In the end, unique reform 2014, thatpurchased positive social resonance is the process of decentralization the public powerand strengthening of local self-government, which is mainly approved by citizens.Conclusions of the research. Problems of public management and collision of reformsare the sign of modern democracies which are modernized. The political system and publicmanagement can be effectively modernized at the maintainance of their integrity,institutional memory and, at the same time, harmonious relationships with a socialenvironment.
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How do we think, how do we learn, memorize and dream, how does pleasure come to be, where are the emotions hidden and how do we reach decisions? Cognitive science and neuroscience tries to answer such questions. It tackles the fields of the human mind in an interdisciplinary, even transdisciplinary way – by connecting discoveries from all the disciplines that could shed light on cognitive occurrences. Cognitive science brings together psychology, philosophy, linguistics, artificial intelligence, social sciences and many others. It tries to deal with mental processes in a holistic way and to create a deeper understanding of the field that is empirically closest to us.
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Recently there has been a considerable interest in the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework for effective technology integration (Koehler et al., 2013). Researchers have been measuring how effective their professional development efforts have been for the development of teachers’ TPACK (Graham et al., 2009; Guzey & Roehrig, 2009). So far research is based only on short-term courses, so longitudinal studies are needed to examine the TPACK development of teachers across time (Hoffer & Grandgenett, 2012; Koh & Sing, 2011).A two-year in-service training program of educational technology (60 ECTS), based on the TPACK framework, was developed at Tallinn University Haapsalu College to support in-service teachers to effectively embed ICT into their classroom teaching. The first group of teachers (n=20) enrolled in the program in January 2014. This paper reports some preliminary findings of a longitudinal action research, the main aim of which is to evaluate the impact of the in-service training program of educational technology on teachers’ TPACK. The key questions for this research were: how do teachers’ perceptions of their TPACK levels change after participating in the training program for a year; which of the seven knowledge domains of the TPACK framework develop more than others; what is the impact of different knowledge domains on teachers’ TPACK perceptions.The TPACK questionnaire developed by Schmidt et al. (2009) was used to measure in-service teachers’ self-assessments of their TPACK during the first meeting of the training program and at the end of the first academic year.The research results revealed increase in all the domains of the TPACK framework. There was significant development of the teachers’ TK and TPACK, but only limited growth in CK and PK. Strong positive correlations were found between TCK, TPK and TPACK in the post-course survey.
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Caring research is a new concept that is discussed and defined from two supplementary perspectives: (1) as research aiming at promoting well-being and (2) as a caring research community that cares for the researcher well-being and reciprocal relationships between colleagues and between supervisors and students. These dimensions are discussed in the light of the latest findings and theories of positive psychology as well as based on the authors’ studies in the field. The caring research ideology contributes a comprehensive viewpoint to the world of academic research because it also pays attention to the actual research process within the research community. This well-being focused approach can serve as a means to flourish within the ever-increasing demands of the academic world.
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Autonomy is essential for teachers’ commitment, satisfaction and retention. However, teacher autonomy is consistently being reduced in the current era of reforms and the sharing of global policies. In this narrative case study, the account of one Canadian teacher (Nora) was examined in relation to how an educational reform influenced her work life in terms of her perceived autonomy and self-confidence. The relation between teacher autonomy and self-confidence was addressed, and the ramifications prompted by the fluctuations in both constructs. The findings suggest that the relationship between Nora’s perceptions of teacher’s professional autonomy and her self-confidence is complex. Nora’s self-confidence was strongly related to her perceived autonomy and the reduction of autonomy triggered significant downward spiralling, leading to isolation. Some discussion on the possible ways to help teachers break this downward spiralling is provided. Finally, this research broadens the collection of stories by teachers on challenges introduced by educational reform and gives voice to teachers suffering in isolation.
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Teaching and learning trend has shifted gradually from a teacher-centered approach to a student-centered approach. Many educational researchers have suggested that teachers must use student-centered learning approaches, such as Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL). POGIL is an instructional approach combining guided inquiry and cooperative learning in which students are involved in the learning process. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of POGIL method compared to traditionally designed chemistry instruction (teacher-centered approach) method on 11th grade students' Self-Regulated Learning Skills. The study was conducted during 2014-2015 spring semester. Participants were 115 students from one high school in Turkey. Non-equivalent control group design was used. Two experimental groups and two control groups were randomly selected. Experimental groups were instructed with POGIL, while control groups received traditionally designed chemistry instruction. Achievement Goal Questionnaire (AGQ) and Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) were administered to both groups as pre-test and post-test to determine students' self-regulated learning skills. Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) was used to investigate the effect of POGIL on the dependent variables. Results revealed that POGIL improved students' mastery approach, task value, control of learning beliefs, self-efficacy for learning and performance, critical thinking, help seeking, peer learning, metacognitive self-regulation, effort regulation, time/study environmental management. The results showed that POGIL was superior to the traditionally designed chemistry instruction on students’ self-regulated learning skills. Thus, POGIL is helpful for development of students’ self-regulated learning skills.
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Adolescents exhibit a range of behavior difficulties as a result of the many physical, emotional, and social stresses associated with this developmental stage. Conflicts and occasional aggressive outbursts are common in this period, but this behavior becomes problematic when it is persistent. Allan Guggenbühl’s Mythodrama group psychotherapy approach of resolving conflict and bullying in a school setting has been proven successful in Europe and in the USA. The aim of the current study was to provide further evaluation of Mythodrama group work to address emotional and behavioral problems with early adolescents. As emotional abilities and dispositions appear to play a crucial role for adjustment and well-being in adolescence period, the present study investigated, using a controlled experimental design, whether it is possible to increase Emotional Intelligence in pupils received Mythodrama group intervention during three months. Sixty three public school pupils aged 10- to 12-years-old (M of age =11.06, SD=0.59), identified by school staff as displaying emotional and behavioral difficulties, were administered with Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue) – Child’s form (Petrides, 2008) twice, prior and post Mythodrama group intervention. Repeated measures ANOVA revealed a statistically significant change in seven domains of emotional intelligence, while no significant changes were observed in the control group, except three of the domains. These findings suggest that Emotional Intelligence can be improved using Mythodrama group intervention, but more follow-up research is required to reveal the persistence of the result and its influence on school performance.
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Create a text filled with personal meaning, designed in according to the norms of the Russian literary language – a task that must be put and solved in the lessons of the Russian language as a native language and a foreign language. Human communication – is the exchange of texts is not by chance in the national curriculum for native and foreign (Russian) language is said that in the process of learning language student must master his verbal communication skills, learn how to express thoughts and feelings, analyse, heard and read summarizing information. Since the text activities – is one of the learning activities in its organization must be taken into account patterns of natural speech activity, are well known. This are motives, purpose of the activity, structure and its stages; availability of productive activity. The organization of educational process must be oriented to the natural patterns of speech communication, as students create products of speech as a result of interaction with each other. The authors of this article have tried to consider all this creating textbooks for students of different age groups, who study Russian language as native and foreign.
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The current push to educate highly qualified and productive Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) professionals typically culminates in collegiate capstone projects. These group projects attempt to prepare STEM professionals for entry into the real world as they exemplify early career group dynamics and expose the reality that communication and other soft-skills are often just as important as technical skills. Since attitudes of STEM students and early career professions are established throughout the entire K-20 curriculum, this article also provides some feedback to educators. The research presented utilized, a free cloud based collaboration tool to observe the communication habits of three senior capstone teams (n= 13 participants) and was able to predict communication success and failures through straight-forward analysis of several key parameters, including: discussion frequency, number of responses and the distribution of work over time.
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While it can take different forms, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) K-12 teacher professional development (PD) is important around the world. Though all stakeholders play critical roles in PDs, the author focuses on the larger system that supports the PDs. As such, this research study focuses on the PD results, but also on the explanation of the systemic nature of the PDs studied. Partnerships, including building of relationships, are explored in that system. In this mixed methods study of two K-12 teacher PDs (n=31 and 19 total PD days), conducted in the western United States, the author utilizes quantitative and qualitative data collection methods to reinforce quality PD practices and suggested strategies. Results indicate that 90% of the K-12 teachers were highly engaged in the STEM content and partnership building. Pre to post K-12 teacher perception scores regarding astronomy use in STEM content courses showed noteworthy improvement from 16% to 84%. Furthermore, K-12 teacher perceptions regarding creation of partnerships and collaborations rose from 26% to 90%. Other findings showcase themes of reflection, collaboration, STEM integration, and inquiry as well as a need for partnership building time. Overall, when the K-12 teachers worked together in a structured PD over an academic year (2014-2015) for a selection of 19 days (13 summer days and 6 Saturdays during the academic year) partnerships were formed and provided added organization for the PD system. Faculty/PD team communications and continuous K-12 teacher support were also critical factors for systemic PD success. Access to K-12 teacher created lesson plans that use astronomy as a vehicle for STEM lessons can be accessed free of charge at the following websites: http://physics.uwyo.edu/~mike/workshop/index.html and http://www.physics.uwyo.edu/~aschwortz/LASSI/
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What is the possible use of history of mathematics for mathematics education? History of mathematics can play an important role in a didactical context, but a general theory of its use cannot be constructed. Rather a series of cases, in which the resort to history is useful to clarify mathematical concepts and procedures, can be shown. A significant example concerns differential calculus: Newton’s Methodus fluxionum et serierum infinitarum is a possible access-key to differential calculus. For, many concepts introduced by Newton ought be useful for the pupils/students (last or last but one year at the high school and first year at the university) to reach a more intuitive, geometrical and problem-oriented approach to calculus. The motivation to consider history of mathematics as an important didactical support is that the pupils/students often learn mathematics in a too formal manner, without understanding the real reasons for the introduction of several mathematical concepts. The problem is that the potential of such support is not exploited. The educational proposal is hence to show a concrete case to highlight what the teaching of mathematics based on history means. The conclusion is that a general theory, as differential calculus, should be considered by the pupils/students as a necessity, deriving from a specification, improvement and extension of the techniques used to solve significant problems posed and developed in the course of history. In this manner, mathematics appears as a human activity comparable with other activities and not as a merely formal exercise.
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Jewish-Christian tradition is memory-tradition. Just from the beginning, people are confronted with the God of Abraham, Isaak and Jacob and with particular situations, which are worth remembering (Exodus, Ten Commandments). Because the Bible combines remembering and teaching („When your son”... (Dtn 6, 20)), religious education means memory-education. Like Israel in real Exile and Diaspora, young pupils and students suffer from „virtual Exile or Diaspora“, when they are dwelling within their digital global village, and in „patchwork-families“, often without real home-experience and without any sense of belonging. Suffering from such experiences of missed orientation and belonging, they feel – as discussions in schools and groups underline - unsatisfied and uncomfortable, and look for authentic coping-models. Therefore, the study emphasizes – based on narrations of elder people - on a particular religious education-approach, which facilitates life-satisfaction by memory-learning from other experiences. The focus of research is on the question, whether memory-learning, combined with religious contents, rituals and/or metaphoric, could encourage life-satisfaction, and whether there are significant differences between East (Latvia) and West (Germany).
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Technical subjects should include creative activities in order to foster the development of technical creativity in talented students. Talent should be regarded as a potential or a characteristic, which a certain student possesses. Creativity can be described as an activity through which such talent shows.The research on the correlation between technical talent and technical creativity included 109 students aged 11 to 15 years, in two Slovenian lower secondary schools. Students were tested by two modified tests on technical creativity and technical talent.The results show that a positive correlation between technical talent and technical creativity exists. It depends on the gender, age and closing assessment of the student. Females displayed a higher level of technical creativity in comparison to males; however, the males achieved higher scores in the technical talent test. The higher the closing assessment and the age of the students, the higher was the level of their technical talent and technical creativity.
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In reference to cultural patterns in collectivistic societies, teaching and learning are greatly influenced by the teachers’ collectivistic or individualistic cultural orientation (Kaur & Noman, 2015). However, in dealing with both audiences and their teaching platforms, a chasm appears between methodologies and their applications since collectivistic societies are reluctant to accept methodologies perceived as mere Western innovations. In other words, a seemingly pedagogical incongruence arises where direct individualistic Western influence is perceived as unsuitable to a collectivistic mindset. One must keep in mind that family members in collectivist societies, who view themselves as part of a group rather than independent individuals, seem to feel more interdependent and mutually responsible for each other. In addition to Vygotski’s assertion that children’s cognitive development is enriched through social interaction with more skilled individuals (1978), Bandura (1982) emphasizes that the degree to which learners believe in their own self-efficacy influences their functioning cognitively, motivationally, emotionally, and their decision making process. Also, self-efficacy is perceived to accelerate the process of adapting to a new environment while learners adopt new cultural practices and consent to norms and expectations. In our exploration, second-language learners (SLLs) from collectivistic societies advance academically—English as a second language included—within the frame of sociocultural theory, since they seem to be motivated by their culturally-induced sense of obligation to honor their parents and other group members. These SLLs are positively influenced by their prior experiences with the group’s perceptions and expectations of their capability to learn an additional language (Bandura & Schunk, 1981; Schunk, 1991). Our research seems to indicate that this outcome is significantly affected by the self-efficacy and self-reliance produced by prior successes in challenging tasks that may have been mandated by the SLL’s elders. In addition, SLLs also seem to succeed in accomplishing more challenging goals as they observe their families’ values and traditions even when they are in a society that enforces individualistic values.
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