Whole Brain Teaching (WBT) is a brain-based teaching strategy rooted on the concepts developed by Biffle (2013) and Hermann (1998). This strategy treats every child to have four brain areas that require close attention. The four brain areas correspond to four learning activities to address the holistic need of an individual. The four learning activities are: (1) lecture; (2) individual work; (3) group work; and (4) practical display. The study aims to determine the effect of the use of whole brain teaching on students' learning gains and motivation. Quasi-experimental research method was used in the study. The pre-test-posttest design without control group was specifically used to determine learning gains. A set of six lessons were planned and delivered to two groups of grade 10 Physics classes. Learning gain was measured by getting the difference of pre-and posttests using a validated 40-item taken from released international test items. Motivation results were gauged using a Physics Motivation Questionnaire (Koballa & Glynn, 2006). The results revealed that the two sections of Grade 10 science students had an average learning gain of 20%. It was further found that the students had average to high motivation with intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in the top two of the six components of motivation. The results revealed positive effects to academic performance and motivation can be derived from the use of WBT as teaching strategy.
Homework is defined as an additional task that a student does outside of the school. This added activity is in recognition of the necessity to spend additional time for subjects such as Mathematics. The dilemma comes in the form of the advantages and disadvantages that can be derived from homework. Studies have revealed varying effects of homework to students on academic and non-academic areas. Teachers are at the forefront of the decision towards the giving or not of homework. Pre-service teachers at the elementary level represent the future leaders of the educational system and should be acquainted and involved at the onset of the dilemma. The main objective of this study is to determine the perspective of pre-service elementary teachers towards homework. The anatomy of their belief can be a key towards addressing the issue via teacher training. The descriptive method of research was used through case studies. Constant comparative method was used to analyze results. Salient results revealed that the subjects favor the giving homework on the following grounds: it helps add knowledge, confidence and satisfaction. Those who do not favor homework find it as an additional burden and a source of additional stress. Difficulties in complying with homework are usually associated with limited time, bad influence of peers and teacher factor. Students usually spend late nights to comply with homework and are unable to perform at the best of their potentials.
The field of Mathematics requires a lot of critical thinking and problem solving. These skills are honed as early as the basic education years of the students. Teacher training institutions should make it a necessity that they are able to cater to pre-service teachers who will be able to meet the demands of mathematics education. This paper aimed to construct, validate and determine the Differential Item Functioning (DIF) of a problem solving test for pre-service mathematics teachers. This test will later be used as a basis for designing interventions to improve the mathematical aptitude of pre-service teachers. Two universities were chosen with 100 third year students taking Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education major in Mathematics. The tests were constructed and validated by experts before administration to the participants. The participants took the examination and the test was improved based on the results of the item analysis. Differential Item Functioning was also tested using the Standardization Method. The study led to the development of a 60-item validated test on problem solving. After subjecting to DIF analysis, it was found that the two groups tested performed with no significant difference between individuals of similar abilities. The test yielded norm values per sub-skill of the test which will help gauge pre-service mathematics teachers' problem-solving skills.
Teaching effectiveness is essential in bringing about classroom achievement. Charisma is strongly linked with teaching effectiveness. Huang and Lin (2014) named four factors related to charisma which were utilized in this study. The factors include: 1) character traits, 2) knowledge, 3) humor, and 4) teaching techniques. Using these factors, the proponents aimed to develop an instrument to measure charisma called, Charisma Inventory for teaching effectiveness (CITE). The development of the instrument followed the Development research design that involved two phases. The first phase is the development of the instrument and second phase is the tryout of the instrument. Using the four areas of charisma according to Huang and Lin (2014), a new set of 10 items per area were developed giving a total of 40 items in all. The second phase involved the utilization of the instrument where the teaching effectiveness of an identified faculty was determined through student evaluation. The result of the evaluation revealed that all areas of the identified faculty were outstanding with character traits being the strongest area and teaching techniques being the weakest. The results of the evaluation using the instrument provided insights as to improving classroom practices and addressing classroom achievement. Further tests may be done with the instrument in order to determine some other psychometric characteristics of the developed instrument.
Program evaluation is an inevitable requisite to quality assurance in higher education. Ensuring the public that programs offered by an institution of higher learning is a must and should be observed to maintain the standards and meet the demands of the public. In teacher education, practice teaching program is a common feature of teacher education programs in the country. Practice Teaching is commonly the terminal program undergone by pre-service teachers and is considered to be one of the most crucial programs of soon-to-be teachers. It is the aim of the current study to evaluate the midterm implementation of the practice teaching program in an institution with the aim of looking for areas of improvement and best practices. The study involved the use of Context-Input-Process-Product (CIPP) as an evaluation model to achieve its aim. Evaluators of the program include 1 administrator, 4 supervising instructors, 14 student-teacher leaders and 640 student teachers. The results of the study revealed that all areas of evaluation had an overall mean equivalent to an interpretation of very good. The context area received the highest evaluation (Mean = 3.99 0.18) while the input area had the lowest evaluation (Mean = 3.82 0.23). The results of the study provided inputs to better examine the practices in the program in the quest for further improvements. The results of the program served as an input for the members of the institution to recalibrate their efforts towards better implementation of the program.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.