Volume 5, Issue 4, October 2014

ABSTRACT

This article reviewed the literature on parental rearing styles and used responses from an online discussion forum to investigate people’s opinions towards parental rearing styles and strategies when children use hand-held devices. Critical discourse analysis (CDA) was used as an analysis method via micro, meso and macro multi-level interpretations. The majority of online responses agree that parents’ positive engagement using an authoritative rearing style play an important role in children’s use of hand-held devices, while authoritarian, permissive and uninvolved rearing styles hindered children’s development. Five positive parenting strategies were promoted by online responses, which included accepting technology, managing the use of technology, being responsible for children’s technology choice, setting playing time, and encouraging children to have no-technology time. Educators and parents who are interested in using hand-held devices with children will find this article useful in understanding positive strategies to implement when children use these devices.

Keywords: Hand-held devices, Parental rearing style, Children, Online responses

ABSTRACT

Effort to determine teachers’ effects on student has been continuously made with national data. However, paucity of research has been conducted on how teachers’ instructional strategies impact on student learning with national data, although instructional theories suggest a direct relationship between instructional strategies and learning outcomes. Therefore, the relationship between teachers’ use of instructional strategies and learning outcomes should be examined with national data. This study investigates how much teacher’s instructional strategies explain student learning in mathematics and what instructional strategies are positively related to student learning outcomes. Revised Bloom’s taxonomy was used to define instructional strategies that support different levels of cognitive processes. The U.S. 8th grade mathematics data from the 2007 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study was analyzed using multilevel modeling. As results, teachers’ instructional strategies explained approximately 12% at the individual level and 17% at the teacher level of the learning outcome. Also, asking student to write equations and functions to represent relationships and to decide on their own procedures for solving complex problems were positively and significantly related to student learning outcomes.

Keywords: Instructional strategies, TIMSS, Mathematics education, Academic achievement, Multilevel modeling

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on the leadership used by the principal in a collaborative ICT project. The case study chosen was a school project conducted within the NCCE project (Nordic Cross Country Education). The EU funded project ran for three years in grades 5-9 in Sweden, Denmark and Norway. The goal of the project was to develop cross-border education models between the national education systems in the three countries. The project was based on virtual communication using digital technology. The study focuses on how the Swedish teachers from two schools involved in the NCCE project experienced the leadership of the principals in ICT related matters. A qualitative method was used by interviewing the teachers in order to inquire about what kind of support they had received from the school leadership on pedagogical issues, technical equipment and ICT competence. The ICT leadership was analyzed by Dexter’s three basic features: setting direction, developing people and making the organization work. The result showed two kinds of leadership. The first one resembled a distributed leadership, where the principal worked closely with teachers and ICT managers, almost like being one of the team. The second one resembled more a formal leadership where principals had a positive attitude towards ICT development but did not participate personally in the project work.

Keywords: ICT integration, ICT leadership, Distributed leadership, School development

ABSTRACT

This paper discusses importance of technology education and evidences of declining performance of junior secondary school students in basic technology subject. Potentials on interactive whiteboard (IWB) as one of the new technologies to meet the challenges of the 21stcentury are also discussed. The efficacy of IWB for teaching Isometric and Orthographic projection concepts in Technical Drawing aspect of Basic Technology was determined using a pretest-posttest, non-equivalent, non-randomized quasi-experimental design. A 2x2x3 factorial design was employed. Ninety Four (49 males and 45 females) and (31 high, 51 medium and 12 low achievers) JSS-1 students from two secondary schools in Abuja Metropolis made-up the sample. The schools were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The experimental group was taught selected concepts of Isometric and Orthographic Projections using IWB and (Chalkboard) traditional method were used for the control group. A validated Basic Technology Achievement Test (BTAT) comprised of 25-item multiple-choice object test was employed for data collection. The reliability coefficient of BTAT was 0.88 using Kuder-Richardson (KR-20). The hypotheses were tested using ANCOVA and Scheffe post-hoc analysis. Results revealed that the students taught with IWB performed better than the control group. Also, high achievers performed better than medium and low achievers respectfully. The IWB was found also to be gender friendly. Based on the findings, it was recommended that the use of IWB should be encouraged in Nigerian schools.

Keywords: Interactive whiteboard, Isometric and Orthographic, Psychomotor skills, Gender, Achievement levels

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the present research is to study the effects of educational multimedia in dictation and its role in improving dysgraphia in students with dictation difficulty. Research methodology is categorized as being quasi-experimental. The statistical population of the study includes students with dictation difficulty of the second grade of primary schools of Arak in the 2011-2012 academic year. The population (including 39 students) is selected through utilization of Poisson sampling procedure. From the designated sample, 20 members are selected to be put in the experiment group and the remaining 19 members are put in the control group. Clinical interview, dictation test, and Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children- Revised (WISC-R) are utilized to distinguish students with dictation difficulty from normal-progress students in learning disability center. Dictation test for data compilation and Man-Whitney- Wilcoxon U-Test (MWW) for data analysis are used. The findings of the study depict that the level of improvement of dysgraphia of those students who rely on educational multimedia in dictation has a positive statistical significance in comparison with those who rely on normal educational procedures (p

Keywords: Educational multimedia, Dysgraphia, Special education, Dictation difficulty

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