Preparing Business Students for the World of Work—Games for Intercultural Skill Development

Most work environments today are diverse—gender, age, culture, language, values, ethnicity. Businesses are also increasing their global presence with branches in international locations and daily interactions across countries and cultures, all made easier through technological advances. Business education must be at the forefront in preparing students to work effectively in these contexts, and in particular, help future managers develop the skills to establish high performing diverse teams within and across organizations. A number of pedagogical approaches can be implemented in business courses to help students develop intercultural competencies. Three games for engaging students in the recognition and appreciation of cultural differences are described in this article. Ideas for debriefing are provided as well as for analyzing learning outcomes. The purpose of this article is to share strategies and approaches for implementing intercultural development pedagogies and measuring their effectiveness.

Teaching International Students to Analyze Textual-Discursive Categories

The purpose of the study is to identify how the course that covers the components of the ten-stepwise approach to discourse analysis of political texts helps international students study the political meanings in Ukraine. The study used the structured observation method to collect rather quantitative than qualitative data and observers’ reports on the sampled students’ performance in the in-class and out-of-class assignments. It also used discourse analysis awareness test, observation report checklist, and assessment checklist to yield the quantitative data. The course that is based on the ten-stepwise approach to discourse analysis of political texts proved to raise the students’ overall awareness of analysis of textual-discursive categories and fosters their skills of both discourse analysis and technical skills to use the NVivo 12 software tool. The results of the Discourse Analysis Awareness Test showed that the sampled students’ awareness of discourse analysis was generally good. The mean values varied between 0.643 and0.857, which corresponded to 65-85 grades ECTS. The analysis of the observation reports showed that the five most frequent words used in the corpus of the observation reports of seven experts were as follows: students, contributed, equally, succeeded, managed. All of them evoke a positive idea and feeling and reveal success in meeting goals. The quotes yielded from the reports implied that the course sessions were engaging, challenging, and fruitful in terms of learning how to analyze textual-discursive categories found in political texts. The descriptive statistics drawn from the observation checklist and presented by course topic showed that the observers’ mean values improved throughout the course sessions that meant that the students progressed in the discourse analysis.

Factors Affecting Stress of Online Learning due to the COVID-19 Situation at Faculty of Education, Thailand National Sports University Chonburi Campus

The purpose of this research was to study factors affecting stress of online learning due to the COVID-19 situation at the Faculty of Education, Thailand National Sport University Chonburi Campus, and to create equations to predict the stress of students. The samples consisted of 280 students in the Faculty of Education, Thailand National Sport University Chonburi Campus. The research instruments were the Suanprung Stress Test and a questionnaire gauging emotional and mental status, perceived severity of stress, opportunity for risk of stress, perceived usefulness of stress management, university policies that promote stress management, environment, and social support. The data were analyzed in terms of frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation and Stepwise Multiple Regression Analysis. The results indicated that 1) study stress levels during the COVID-19 situation were at a moderate level: subjects had a mild level of stress 8.93 percent, moderate level of stress 56.78 percent, high level of stress 33.93 percent and severe level of stress 0.36 percent; 2) The subjects’ emotional and mental well-being, perceived severity of stress, perceived usefulness of stress management, University policies that promote stress management, environment, social support were at a high level, and Opportunity for risk of stress moderate level. 3) The factors that related to the stress of online learning due to the COVID-19 situation comprised were 4 variables: achievement perceived usefulness of stress management, opportunity for risk of stress, university policies that promote stress management, and social support. There was a statistically significantly difference at the 0.1 level. These 4 factors could predict the Stress about percentage of 70.50. The significantly predicted equations were as follows: In term of raw scores: Y/ = 75.425 + (-5.180) (X4) + 3.816 (X3) + (-3.465) (X5) + (-2.689) (X7) In term of standard scores: Z / Y = (-0.324) (Z X 4) + 0.280 (Z X 3) + (-0.225) (Z X3) + (-0.165) Z X 7)

Perceptions of Teachers and Subject Advisers Regarding Curriculum Development Processes in Fort Beaufort District, Eastern Cape

This study was designed to investigate the perceptions of teachers and subject advisers regarding the curriculum development processes in Fort Beaufort District in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. The sample consisted of twenty-two respondents: four principals, twelve teachers and six subject advisers. Data were collected through structured face-to-face interviews, focus group discussions and document analysis. The findings revealed that both teachers and subject advisers were concerned about the quality of teachers and learners as well as delivery of the curriculum. They also expressed concern about the quality of workshops; pointing to how much participation from teachers and subject advisers occurs in these workshops. Their responses create space for the researcher to engage with the question, does their involvement in these workshops help them to understand the curriculum and implement it better? Hence, this study recommends that the quality of teachers, learners and subject advisers should be considered while carrying out curriculum development processes.

Subject Specialisation in Primary School: A Theoretical Review and Implications for Policy and Practice in Zambia

The Ministry of General Education (Zambia) introduced subject specialisation at primary school. However, researchers have not yet sufficiently interrogated the concepts and modalities of subject specialisation at the primary school level to build a basis for an informed position and implementation. The paper aimed to review the literature and international practice relevant to subject specialisation at the primary school level. Interpretive techniques were applied while conducting secondary data analyses. The review established that there were different models of specialisation in education. There were also mixed experiences of subject specialisation in teaching and learning at primary school levels from the countries accessed. Nonetheless, intentional narrowed practice tended to contribute to the competent delivery of service in education. The paper, thus, welcomed differentiated types of specialisation based on school circumstances, learner grade level, staff numbers and teaching and learning facilities. Therefore, the authors proposed a study to explore the assertions and proposals.

Enhancing the Cross-Cultural Competence of Prospective Language Teachers

In the twenty-first century, education does not merely focus on information exchange; additionally, it does so on various abilities and living in harmony. To materialize such acquisition among students, cross-cultural competence is an essential vehicle in a rapidly globalizing world. This calls for integrating comprehensive cross-cultural education as an independent subject into teacher training programs alongside the applied practices that go with it. Against this backdrop, the current study aims to determine the cross-cultural competency capabilities of Turkish language teacher candidates studying at one of the major universities in Turkey. In this article, initially cultural dimensions, scope of culture, and aspects of cross-cultural competency are addressed on a theoretical basis. In addition, learning materials are developed by the candidates, based on the instructions provided by the researcher, and analyzed according to their content of cross-cultural competency. The paper also discusses the cultural background of the candidates and their cross-cultural competency capabilities. The findings show that the participants have major difficulty presenting sufficient information or content in developing their cross-cultural competency. In the end, there are recommendations for enhancing the cross-cultural competency capabilities, while shedding light on the inadequate focus devoted to improving these skills within the training programs.

Teachers’ and Educational Administrators’ Conceptions of Inquiry: Do They Promote or Constrain Inquiry-Based Science Teaching in Junior High Schools?

This study sought to examine whether teachers’ and educational administrators’ conceptions of inquiry promote or constrain inquiry-based science teaching in junior high schools. The study also explored any connections between participants’ conceptions of scientific inquiry, inquiry teaching, and inquiry learning. Multiple-case study involving semi-structured interviews was used to collect data from 18 integrated science teachers and 23 educational administrators from rural and urban areas in the Central Region of Ghana. Analysis of the qualitative data involved open coding and categorisation of participants’ responses. We found that all the teachers and educational administrators held either uninformed or partially informed conceptions of scientific inquiry and inquiry teaching and learning which, constrain inquiry-based science instruction in junior high schools. We also found that participants’ conceptions of scientific inquiry reflected in their conceptions of science teaching and learning. Again, we found that the uninformed conceptions of inquiry developed from participants’ lack of exposure and experiences with inquiry-based science instruction when they were students. We recommend regular explicit-reflective in-service trainings to promote teachers’ and educational administrators’ conceptions and teachers’ practice of inquiry-based science teaching. We also recommend reforms in preservice science education that emphasise the engagement of prospective teachers in collaborative explicit-reflective inquiry investigations and instructional practices.

Tackling Problem-Solving Through the Curriculum and Community Enterprise for Environmental Restoration Project

The aim of this study is to showcase the use of incorporating problem-solving in a multifaceted, long-term investigation. New York Harbor and its estuaries are undergoing a major revitalization due to the efforts of the Curriculum and Community Enterprise for Environmental Restoration Project. Comprised of a network of local educational and business partnerships, students who have been historically underrepresented in the S.T.E.M. field are given the opportunity to delve into environmental restoration in their local communities and strategize, analyze and evaluate environmental challenges to achieve success in problem-solving. The restoration of a sustainable environment is reliant upon innovative responses to the challenges posed. Problem-solving allows the students to use advanced thinking ability and it can also be the driving force of change. The project has resulted in a deeper understanding of local environmental restoration efforts and a stronger commitment to actionable plans for the future.

Reference to Materials in Written Argumentations of Students in Geography Lessons

Until now, geography teaching has only touched upon the way in which students write argumentations focused on geographical topics, and the challenges of doing this. In order to shed light on this process, this study considers the problems and challenges students face when using material-based written argumentation in geography lessons. The results from 19 evaluated text products and sound thinking protocols, which were collected in the 8th grade of a comprehensive school, are presented and analyzed. These results show that simultaneously handling several materials at once is a challenge for the students in material-based writing due to a lack of processing techniques.

Comparison of Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Curriculum of Universities in China and Ethiopia

In this paper, a comparative evaluation of the undergraduate program of Chemical Engineering curriculums of Chinese and Ethiopian universities was performed. The study employed systematic qualitative methods to synthesize the current qualitative researches into an explanatory process. To comprehend the Chemical Engineering curriculum structure in two countries, a survey of courses from each country institution is presented. Since both countries use harmonized chemical engineering curriculum with their respective institution, top university from each country was taken as a representative sample, Tsinghua University (THU) from China and Addis Ababa University (AAU) from Ethiopia. The major aspects in the comparison were the lengths of the programs, measurement of student workload, practical curriculum, and the ratio of general, core, compulsory and non-compulsory courses. At the THU, the minimum length for the undergraduate program is 4 years, whereas at AAU a minimum of 5 years is expected. While general education courses occupy 70% of the total credit in the THU curriculum showing more emphasis on general courses, the AAU curriculum gives more focus to core courses by allocating 70% of its total credit. The THU curriculum proves to be more flexible, offering more elective courses at different stages of the program; the AAU curriculum has provided the chance for a range of specialty streams offering elective courses in the final year of the program. Thus, it is highly appreciable for both countries’ universities to optimistically add more courses to their present curriculum based on their socio-economic trait, cultural backgrounds, national demands, and resource availabilities.