Transcending gender dichotomy through art teacher education in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe is a patriarchal society characterized by gender dichotomy and male domination that permeates through social, educational and domestic spheres resulting in numerous challenges for art teacher education students. Expanding critical consciousness within art teacher education programmes is an imperative step towards developing art teachers who are self-aware and reflexive concerning the intersections of gender, art and education. This study investigated how engagement with visual art can provoke a heightened critical awareness about gender bias, stereotyping and equity among Zimbabwean art teacher education students. Sixteen selected art teacher education students (eight males and females) at the Great Zimbabwe University participated in the study. Participants were guided by researcher-constructed prompts for purposes of image making, interpretation and dialogue. Visual discourse analysis of the students’ visual narratives and discourse analysis of focus group transcriptions revealed several themes as well as evidence of critical reflection and expanded critical awareness related to gender issues. Visual and dialogic methods offer promise for critical engagement and reconciliation of tensions surrounding issues of gender amongst art teacher education candidates.

Race-based mascots: Reflecting on university–community conversations

Two university art educators engaged in research to explore issues of race and representation through examining the histories of race-based mascots at their two Midwestern US universities. Collaborative inquiry allowed for reflective practice, dialogue and critical listening as part of extended conversations to examine the stereotyping of Indigenous1 culture and images with students and community members. Issues of race, representation, stereotyping and systemic racism were explored with university art education students, faculty and Myaamia citizens (Miami Tribe of Oklahoma) in a workshop setting. Conversations within the workshop aimed to extend understandings about the cultural and artistic traditions of the Miami Tribe and strengthen cross-institutional and community relationships. Post-workshop analysis of the collaborators’ correspondences was analysed to reveal three themes: relationships and voice, representation and acknowledgement. Reconciliation is discussed as ongoing and mutual effort involving a continuous process of critical reflection, listening and dialogue necessary for building relationships and to learn directly from Indigenous peoples.

Reading Comprehension in Both Spanish and English as a Foreign Language by High School Spanish Students

Several studies have highlighted that reading comprehension is determined by different linguistic skills: semantics, syntax, and morphology, in addition to one’s own competence in reading fluency (accuracy, speed, and prosody). On the other hand, according to the Linguistic Interdependence Hypothesis, linguistic skills developed in one’s own native language (L1) facilitate the development of these skills in a second one (L2). In this study, we wanted to explore the linguistic abilities that determine reading comprehension in Spanish (L1) and in English (L2) in Secondary Education students. To do this, 73 Secondary Education Students (1st and 3rd year) participated in this study. The students carried out a battery of tasks in English and Spanish, all of them related to reading comprehension (expository text) and different linguistic skills, which included syntactic awareness tasks, synonymy judgment tasks (vocabulary), and morphological awareness tasks. The results indicated a positive correlation between linguistic competencies in both languages (indicating a transfer effect between languages), which were determined by school year, with a lower performance in the 1st year than in the 3rd year. Moreover, we found more skills with correlations in English reading comprehension than in Spanish. Finally, reading comprehension in L1 was mainly explained English reading comprehension, while English reading comprehension was predicted by grade, and syntactic awareness, as well as Spanish reading comprehension. This could be explained by the different levels of exposure to L1 and L2 of sample subjects, as the linguistic variables have different influences on the reading comprehension of both languages.

Analisis kepercayaan diri mahasiswa pendidikan matematika dalam pembelajaran daring di era pandemi covid-19

Self-confidence is one of the affective aspects that must be considered and developed, especially in building student readiness in undergoing online learning in the current pandemic era. This study aims to analyze the confidence of mathematics education students in online learning in the era of the covid-19 pandemic. This research use descriptive qualitative approach. The subjects of this study were first semester students who took the Differential Calculus course in the Mathematics Education study program at the Universitas Muhammadiyah Tapanuli Selatan for the 2021/2022 academic year. The instrument used in this research is a questionnaire. The data obtained in this study were analyzed descriptively. Based on the results of the study, it shows that the indicators of student self-confidence in online learning in the era of the covid-19 pandemic have not fully achieved, but most of the indicators have mostly achieved self-confidence, namely the first indicator of believing in self-ability, most of them have achieved self-confidence. Students also have not fully met the second indicator, namely being able to act independently in making decisions. In the third indicator having a positive self-concept, most students have achieved this indicator. In the fourth indicator, namely daring to express opinions, almost some students have the courage to express opinions. To further increase student confidence, it is necessary to provide innovation in the implementation of online learning.

Cross-national structure of economic competence: Insights from a German and Russian assessment

In this paper, we present a study, which models and measures the competencies of higher education students in business and economics—within and across countries. To measure student competencies in a valid and reliable way, the Test of Understanding in College Economics was used, which assesses microeconomic and macroeconomic competencies. The test was translated into several languages and adapted for different university contexts. In the presented study, the test contents were also compared with regard to the educational standards and the university curricula in Russia and Germany. Our findings from the cross-national analysis suggest one strong general factor of economic competence, which encompasses micro- and macroeconomic dimensions. This points to a stronger interconnection between learning and understanding economic contents than previous research suggests and indicates far-reaching curricular and instructional consequences for higher education economics as well as needs for further research, which are discussed in this paper.

Classroom Management: How Important is Authentic Assessment of 21st Century Skills in Biology Education Students?

To compete in the 21st century, educators need to equip students with various skills called 21st-century skills. The purpose of this research is to identify and describe the perceptions of biology education lecturers and students regarding the authentic assessment of 21st-century skills. The method used in this research is an internet-based survey method. The research participants consisted of 7 lecturers and 80 students majoring in biology education. The instrument used is a result questionnaire consisting of 11 questions for lecturers and ten questions for students. The survey results show that lecturers and students know about the components and urgency of 21st-century skills. In addition, the assessment of these skills is also quite often done. However, there are still some obstacles in authentically assessing 21st-century skills.

The Impact of Using Twitter as a Pedagogical Tool on Improving Writing Skills of English Language Education Students

This study was a qualitative research method focused on a case study approach. This study aimed to find out the impact of pedagogical Twitter on improving the writing skills of English Language Education students at Universitas Pendidikan Muhammadiyah (UNIMUDA) Sorong. The sample of this study was 27 students of the English Language Education Study Program in the academic year 2020/2021. The sampling technique of this study used a purposive sampling technique. Invalidating the data, I used methodological and investigator triangulation. The instrument of this study had validated by expert judgment invalidating the data. The data of this study had collected through students writing text, tweets from Twitter, and interviews. After collecting the data, I used Brown’s rubric score to analyze students’ writing text, and tweets from their Twitter accounts as a pre-test and post-test. The interview item became the last instrumental in exploring the impact of Twitter on improving students writing skills. The analysis found that Twitter became an effective tool in enhancing students’ writing skills. The result showed from five categories of Brown’s assessing writing skills: students writing content of 83.33%, the organization was 81.48%, grammar structures of 85.19%, vocabulary had 82.41%, and mechanism had 100.00%. The result concluded that Twitter was more influential in improving students writing skills. The average of each category was an outstanding category. In short, Twitter became an effective pedagogical tool in helping students to improve their writing skills. In addition, Twitter has functioned as social media, but it has integrated into the teaching and learning process. Keywords: Twitter, Pedagogical Tool, Writing Skills.

Personality-Related Determinants of Physical Activity Among Polish and Spanish Physical Education Students

We aimed to analyze personality-related determinants of physical activity among Polish and Spanish physical education (PE) students. The study was conducted among 219 Polish and 280 Spanish PE students, using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) and the NEO-FFI Personality Inventory. Compared with Spanish PE students, their Polish counterparts are characterized by a higher level of extraversion and conscientiousness and a lower level of neuroticism. The level of total physical activity for all students was 8,697.21 METs, and this value was higher among Polish students. Among Polish and Spanish PE students, the level of total, vigorous, and moderate physical activity increased along with the increase in extraversion, while a decrease occurred along with the increase in neuroticism. The level of each domain of physical activity also increased in line with the intensification of student conscientiousness. In moderation analyses, it was shown that the home country of students may be considered a moderator of the relationship between conscientiousness and total exercise in such a way that the physical activity increased along with the increase in conscientiousness only among the Polish students. In addition, the country is a moderator of the correlation between moderate physical activity and neuroticism (p = 0.031), openness (p = 0.049), and conscientiousness (p = 0.019), with moderate activity only decreasing among Polish students and increasing along with the increase in openness and conscientiousness. Positive correlations among physical activity, extraversion, and conscientiousness, as well as negative ones with neuroticism, were demonstrated among Polish and Spanish students, and also the moderating impact of the country on the correlation between personality-related dimensions and physical activity.