The quality of science education teachers’ work determines the effectiveness of education and science education programs in many respects. Given that the results of students are not the same for teachers with the same formal characteristics, we formulate the research problem: when assessing the effectiveness of teachers, we can distinguish a system of indicators that affect the effectiveness of education and educational programs. The purpose of this article is to analyze the quality of work of science education teachers in the Kirov region and their teaching practice. The leading research methods in this case are the concept of the third international study of teaching and learning “Teaching and Learning International Survey”, collecting data obtained through a questionnaire of science education teachers, analyzing the quality of work and conditions of pedagogical practices, statistical processing of the research results, modeling and conversations with heads of secondary schools and representatives of executive authorities. As a result of a study conducted in 2017–2020, in which 1146 teachers of secondary schools of the European part of Russia took part, including 310 science education teachers, the author of the article found: the workload of a school teacher of science education is 0.65; subjects teachers spend on average 42.2 hours every week to perform their official duties, urban teachers have more work than rural teachers; with age, teachers of science education have a partial redistribution of labor activity from teaching to administrative work; actual teaching takes 53% of working time in the structure of workload for teachers of science education; teachers evaluate the completeness of their knowledge upon completion of training at the level of 38% of the required level for performing labor activities; there is a predominant share of teachers with a moderate level of need for knowledge in most areas of professional development. The results of the study allow us to develop a set of group measures for training and methodological support of science education teachers. These measures should take into account the specifics of workload and the characteristics of professional deficits.

This mixed methods, investigative case study explored student patterns of use within the online PeerWise platform to identify the most influencing activities and to build a model capable of predicting performance based on these influencing activities. Peerwise is designed to facilitate student peer-to-peer engagement through creating, answering and ranking multiple choice questions; this study sought to understand the relationship between student engagement in Peerwise and learning performance. To address the research question, various usage metrics were explored, visualized and modelled, using social network analysis with Gephi, Tableau and Python. These findings were subsequently analyzed in light of the qualitative survey data gathered. The most significant activity metrics were evaluated leading to rich data visualisations and identified the activities that influenced academic performance in this study. The alignment of the key qualitative and quantitative findings converged on answering questions as having the greatest positive impact on learner performance. Furthermore, from a quantitative perspective the Average Comment Length and Average Explanation Length correlated positively with superior academic performance. Qualitatively, the motivating nature of PeerWise community also engaged learners. The key limitation of the size of the data set within the investigative case study suggests further research, with additional student cohorts as part of an action research paradigm, to broaden these findings.

Using engineering design to teach science requires teachers to engage in noticing, interpreting, and responding to students’ needs in real-time. While research has begun to focus on how elementary teachers do so, less is known about how teachers instructionally support and optimize students’ ideas through engineering design feedback. In this study we investigate what instructional moves two elementary teachers’ employ to leverage students’ ideas and reasoning and create opportunities for students to exchange design feedback. Data were gathered using classroom observations of teachers’ implementations of a design task focused on sound and energy transformation. Observations were coded for teachers’ use of high-leverage practices, and event maps were created to chronicle teachers’ implementation of the task from start to finish. Event maps were analyzed and compared for discrete instructional activities and modes of classroom organization that supported opportunities for feedback. Findings suggested that while teachers used similar instructional moves, how and when they created opportunities for student design feedback differed, resulting in diverse ways of assessing and supporting students’ understandings. Implications suggest design feedback as both a purposeful and naturally present phenomenon throughout the design process, reflective of the nature of engineering design.

This article presents an international study that documented the conceptions of atomic models held by 1062 in-service high school science teachers from 58 countries. First, a previous study on pre-service science teachers’ conceptions of atomic models was successfully replicated as a pilot study with an international sample of in-service science teachers. Teachers’ conceptions were investigated by analysing their drawings of atomic models. Based on these results, a multiple-choice questionnaire was developed for the main study. This questionnaire collected data on teachers’ conceptions of atomic models, teachers’ knowledge about their students’ conceptions of atomic models, and teachers’ use of atomic models in the classroom. The results show that the teachers’ conceptions of atomic models are almost evenly distributed over six different atomic models. These models are the Bohr model, the Rutherford model, the probability model, the orbital model, the probability orbit model, and the wave model. The vast majority of teachers assume that their students’ conceptions are centred on two historical atomic models, namely the Bohr model and the Rutherford model. Furthermore, the majority of teachers prefer to use historical atomic models over modern atomic models in the classroom. However, the findings also highlight that the use of modern atomic models in the classroom is positively correlated with growing teaching experience, and that teachers’ conceptions of atomic models and their knowledge of students’ conceptions of atomic models significantly influence teachers’ classroom practice.

Preservice mathematics teachers' beliefs about actions related to the use of the technological tools in teaching mathematics may affect how they are going to use them in their classroom activities. However, there is a limited evidence of what beliefs they hold on their intended actions of using technological tools in teaching mathematics. This study presents two preservice high school mathematics teachers' actional beliefs related to their intended actions in teaching geometric transformations (GTs) using Geometer's Sketchpad (GSP). The study comprised of a series of five task-based qualitative interviews with each of two senior undergraduate preservice teachers at a medium-sized public university in the Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. This study used a radical constructivist grounded theory (RCGT) with five assumptions—symbiosis, voice, cognition, adaptation, and praxis as a theoretical framework to guide the study process. The thematic findings of the study included four in vivo categories of their beliefs associated with actions of teaching GTs with GSP – assessment of student learning, engaging students in a group activity in exploring GTs with GSP, engaging students in individual activity in exploring GTs with GSP, and exploring GTs with GSP as 'suck it up and do it.' Pedagogical implications of these categories have been discussed.

The present study examined the levels of four environmental dimensions; environmental awareness, attitudes towards recovery, attitudes towards recycling and environmental behavior among grade 12 students in Sri Lanka. A standard scale that has four environmental dimensions and personal information was used. Effects of gender, study stream, residential area and family income of students on each of the four environmental dimensions were determined by conducting Levene’s test, Kruskal Wallis H test, Dunnet’sT3 test and Mann Whiteny U test using SPSS for Windows version 26. Correlation analysis was run to reveal the associations among the four environmental dimensions. A sample of 1006 grade 12 students participated in the study. Students confirmed a moderate level of awareness, attitudes and behavior towards the environment. Girls’ levels in terms of all four dimensions were significantly higher than those of boys. The result strongly confirmed the impact of study stream on environmental awareness, attitudes and behavior of students. Awareness, attitudes and behavior towards environment of the rural students were at the highest level. However, no significant differences were observed among students from different family income groups. The observed weak correlation between environmental awareness and behavior confirmed that knowledge has not effectively transformed into environmental responsible behavior. Moreover, strong association could be observed between attitudes towards recycling and environmentally responsible behavior of the students. Observed positive correlations among four environmental dimensions indicate that students’ perceived environmental awareness and attitudes positively influence their responsible environmental behavior. These results emphasize the importance of incorporating essential environmental concepts and learning teaching strategies into the existing school curriculum to ensure students’ environmentally responsible behavior. Based on the present findings, suggestions were made for curriculum developers and educators to upgrade the existing curriculum.

In this paper, the categories and influence of teachers’ classroom characteristics relative to effective mathematics teaching in secondary schools in Plateau state, Nigeria were examined. The aim was to see how students are assisted to learn mathematics from teachers engaging fully their professional practices fully. Exploratory and descriptive survey research methods were used to examine the trajectories. Sample for the study consisted of 60 trained mathematics teachers from secondary schools in Plateau state that participated in a week-long capacity building workshop on teaching new concepts from secondary school mathematics curriculum in Nigeria organized recently by the state chapter of the Mathematics Association of Nigeria. Purposive sampling technique was used to select the sample based on the fact that the study targeted only mathematics teachers that participated in the capacity building workshop. A 52-item TCCQ on teacher effectiveness, interest, rapport with students, etc. was used for data collection. The findings from the study revealed that mathematics teachers’ ability to teach effectively is significantly associated with many factors including the use of different strategies (χ2=52.75), revision (χ2=47.13), good lesson plans (χ2=53.93) and being friendly with students (χ2=35.66). There was no significant variation regarding how the characteristics influence teacher effectiveness based on qualification (F2, 58=0.689). Among other things, therefore, it was recommended that teachers should be committed to teaching mathematics effectively in the classroom by taking cognizance of the variables especially designing of good lesson plans and previous knowledge irrespective of their qualifications.

The purpose of this paper is to report a part of a calculus research project, about the performance of a group of pre-service mathematics teachers on two tasks on limit and differentiation of the trigonometric sine function in which the unit of angle measurement was in degrees. Most of the pre-service teachers were not cognizant of the unit of angle measurement in the typical differentiation formula, and a number of participants recognized the condition on the unit of angle measurement but did not translate this to the correct procedure for performing differentiation. The result also shows that most of the participants were not able to associate the derivative formula with the process of deriving it from the first principle. Consequently, they did not associate it with finding  . In the process of evaluating this limit, the pre-service teachers exhibited further misconceptions about division of a number by zero.

In Nigeria, most teachers among other things lack the necessary teaching skills, and mastery of subject matter for effective teaching of mathematics at the secondary school level. These deficiencies have often resulted in high and repeated failure rates in national and standard mathematics examinations. The present study investigated the ability of mathematics teachers to construct practical and realistic word problems in bearing and distance toward mitigating the deficiencies. The research methods adopted were exploratory and descriptive surveys due to the need to explore and analyze the abilities using quantitative techniques. Sample consisted of 292 (35.48%) mathematics teachers who took part in the in-service training workshop organized by the Mathematical Association of Nigeria (MAN) in Plateau state, Nigeria. Purposive sampling technique was used to select the sample that involved the workshop participants only. The instrument ‘construction of practical and realistic word problems in bearing and distance test (CPRWPBDT)’ was used for data collection while the analysis was carried out using simple percentages, mean scores and one-way ANOVA. The findings of the study among other things revealed that the mathematics teacher participants constructed practical and realistic word problems in bearing and distance within 91.67% completion rate, 70.45% of the problems constructed were within the context, at least 75% rate of correctness with little difficulties/errors was observed in sketching (65.90%), and reality (40.90%). The variations observed within the participants in the construction of the problems were statistically not significant. Thus it was recommended among other things that mathematics teachers should undergo regular in-service workshop training to help in developing essential skills themselves for constructing practical/realistic word problems in bearing and distance; and should avoid unnecessary errors for meaningful teaching and learning of bearing and distance.

This mixed-methods, investigative case study explores the experience of a virtual learning environment (VLE) change and its effect on the use of digital learning tools specifically, and teaching practice more generally, for chemistry lecturers at TU Dublin (Ireland) prior to pandemic of the coronavirus disease COVID-19. Initially, a questionnaire examined the different teaching identities the participating lecturers might have and how they relate to the literature. These identities were examined under the following themes: sense of achievement, motivational factors for innovation, innovation positioning, as well as social and organizational factors influencing the decision making. A visual approach of representing the questionnaire data, termed ‘Lecturer Landscapes’, was developed which uncovered new trends based on the biographical descriptors of the research population. Subsequent interviews led to a more detailed investigation of the themes noted in the questionnaire and the Lecturer Landscapes to more holistically capture the professional identity of each respondent. The lens of experience during a VLE change was used to frame each respondent’s professional identity in context. Overall, a VLE change does not have to effect teaching practice and can be experienced as a positive change in teaching and learning. It was also noted that innovation can only occur when specific, and individual, needs and problems are addressed and when personal development is promoted by intrinsic, rather than extrinsic, motivational factors.

This study aims to acquaint high school students with the process of modelling in mathematics teaching. The research lasted 5 weeks with a group of (N=36) high school students of Zenica-Doboj Canton (Bosnia and Herzegovina). Students had an opportunity to learn about functions and their properties, and subsequently about mathematical modelling with linear, quadratic, and logarithmic functions. Examples in the research were related to real-world phenomena and processes. The problems were composed of the following subtasks: creating or testing a model, explaining the results, finding the domain and range, and critical thinking about the model. The research identifies the importance of mathematical modelling in teaching. The results display a positive impact of such an approach on students, their thinking, attitude towards teaching, understanding of the materials, motivation and examination scores. The experiences that both students and teachers may have in a mathematical modelling framework could be extremely important for the academic success. A control group of 36 students took the final exam as well. The students of the experimental group got much better results than the students of the control group. Indeed, learning through mathematical modelling has been shown to contribute to all the aspects of students' expected development.

This study aimed to examine the alignment of the Philippine mathematics teacher education curriculum with the 2021 mathematics literacy framework of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Such study could inform the Philippine Commission on Higher Education (CHED) if its mandated bachelor’s degree in secondary education major in mathematics could produce teachers at the secondary level prepared to deliver the expectations of PISA to mathematically literate 15-year-old learners. Through document analysis, the researcher reviewed the alignment of two official documents accessible online: the 2017 Philippine mathematics teacher education curriculum and the 2021 PISA mathematics literacy framework. Three mathematics education experts validated the researcher’s analysis. The results revealed alignment of the content and competencies covered by the teacher education curriculum and PISA mathematics literacy framework. However, the researcher found gaps in the curriculum in terms of its responsiveness in capturing some contexts and 21st century skills emphasized in PISA 2021 mathematics literacy framework. The study provided recommendations in addressing the gaps to inform needed updating in the teacher education curriculum to meet the expectations of PISA as a step to meeting the international standards of quality educational program.

Algebraic reasoning involves representation, generalization, formalization of patterns and order in all aspects of mathematics. Hence, the focus of algebraic reasoning is on patterns, functions, and the ability to analyze situations with the help of symbols. The purpose of this study was to develop a test instrument to measure students' algebraic reasoning abilities based on cognitive systems in Marzano's taxonomy. The cognitive system in Marzano's taxonomy consists of four levels, including retrieval, comprehension, analysis, and knowledge utilization. According to the stage of cognitive development, students are at the level of knowledge utilization. At this level, students can make decisions, solve problems, generates and test hypotheses, as well as carry out investigations that are in line with indicators of algebraic reasoning abilities. The stages in developing the test instrument were based on three phases: preliminary investigation phase, prototyping phase, and assessment phase. The study obtains a set of valid and reliable algebraic reasoning test instruments for students based on the cognitive system in Marzano's taxonomy. Through the development of an algebraic reasoning test instrument based on Marzano's taxonomy, students can build' thinking habits so that active learning exercises occurs.

This study investigated how implementing inquiry-based learning (IBL) can be an effective tool for an instructor to conduct rich formative assessment. Many researchers have documented that IBL promotes active learning from students’ learning perspective. However, little research examines how IBL affects instructors’ teaching practice from teaching perspective. Based on the data collected from a Calculus II class, the author discussed how the structure of IBL class produced rigorous on-going formative assessment during classroom teaching from the three aspects: helping the instructor “see” student thinking; helping the instructor “see” the level of student understanding; helping the instructor catch teachable moments. The rigorous on-going formative assessment, in turn, helped change student classroom behaviors in terms of asking more questions, showing deep thinking, and gaining confidence.

During online learning, students were having difficulties in understanding the concept of the application of integrals to find an area. The provided materials in PowerPoint and learning sources such as books are still insufficient to understand the concept. The students’ feedback showed that a learning video is required to help the students understand the concept of the application of integrals. This research aims to develop a learning video concerning the concept comprehension of integrals’ application and determine its validity and practicality. This research utilized the analysis, design, development, implementation, evaluation (ADDIE) development model, where the subjects of this research were the students of mathematics education at the Ahmad Dahlan University. The data collection was conducted by using questionnaires and interviews. The obtained data was then analyzed for its validity and practicality. The media validity test result shows valid criteria with the assessment of the material expert of 4.629 (very good) and valid criteria with the material validity test of 4.735 (very good). The responses of the students to the learning video show 3.50 with the criteria of Very Good. Based on such results, this concept comprehension learning video is feasible to use.

Comparative judgement methods are commonly used to explore standards in examination papers over time. However, studies are limited by a paucity of graded candidate scripts from previous years, as well as the expense and time required to standardise scripts. We present three studies that attempted, without the use of graded candidate scripts, to replicate and extend previous results about standards in mathematics examination papers. We found that re-typesetting examination papers into a consistent format was necessary, but that comparative judgement of examination papers without an archive of graded candidate scripts offered a reliable and efficient method for revealing relative demand over time. Our approach enables standards comparison where previously this was not possible. We found a reasonable correlation between judgments of actual student scripts and judgments of the items only, meaning that conclusions may be drawn about the demand of examination papers even when graded candidate scripts are not available.

The students' low science process skills are caused by learning that is still dominated by the teacher, so it is necessary to develop a learning approach that focuses students in the learning process. One approach that can be used is learning that integrates science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This study aims to measure the improvement of students' science process skills that are integrated with the STEM approach on the reaction rate material. This research is a quantitative research with a pre-experimental design type, one group pretest-posttest with a sample of 30 students from class XI SMA Negeri 9 Pontianak, taken by random sampling technique. The data collection tool used is a subjective test of science process skills. The results showed that there was an effect of the STEM approach on the students' science process skills on the reaction rate material, with a score of 76.11, good criteria. Among the aspects of science process skills measured, including observation, classifying, calculating, predicting, inferring, and communication, the communication aspect of students experienced a significant increase from a score of 3.33 to 91.1. This study shows that the STEM approach to reaction rate learning effectively improves students' science process skills.

This paper reports an exploratory study on the pre-service teachers’ content knowledge on school calculus. A calculus instrument assessing the pre-service teachers’ iconic thinking, algorithmic thinking and formal thinking related to various concepts in school calculus was administered to a group of pre-service mathematics teachers. Their performance on five of the items is reported in this paper. Other than their good performance in the iconic recognition of stationary points, their recognition on points of inflexion, differentiability and notion of minimum points was relatively poor. In addition, they appeared to lack the algorithmic flexibility in testing the nature of stationary points and the formal thinking about definition of an extremum point. The implications of the findings are discussed.  

A mathematics instructor with limited knowledge of content and pedagogy has little room for improvement or novelty in the classroom or the ability to arouse students' interest in learning mathematics. This case study was conducted in a foundation center of one of the public universities in Malaysia. The target of current research was to investigate the influence of lesson study (LS) on lecturers’ pedagogical content and content knowledge. The LS group comprises of seven lecturers of the mathematics group and the researcher. The group collaboratively prepared a research lesson on the subject of even and odd functions. Data gathered through interviews and observations on the lecturers’ activities in discussion meetings. Data from observations and interviews were analyzed descriptively and through thematic analysis method respectively. The results of this study show lecturers improved their knowledge in content and pedagogy considerably about even and odd functions. They enhanced their teaching knowledge through collaborative work and sharing of experiences. It seems the findings of this research not only help lecturers to have better performance in teaching the even and odd functions but also encourage them to experience the LS approach in teaching other mathematical concepts.

The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) was developed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to measure students’ knowledge and skills needed for today’s society. PISA is a large-scale assessment of 15-year-old students in reading, mathematics, and science. In this analysis of PISA data from Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH), we examined the relationship between gender, mathematics achievement, and perceived meaning in life in BIH students. The sample for this analysis comprised 6480 students (3148 females and 3332 males). The results of the analysis revealed a small but statistically significant, negative relationship between mathematics and the student’s perception of the meaning in life. Boys achieved higher scores in mathematics than girls, but the difference was relatively small. In addition, boys’ rating of meaning in life was higher than that of girls. Knowing what factors influence mathematical achievement might help educators create better intervention programs. In conclusion, we provided some possible explanations for these data.