Improving the Competency of High School Teachers in Understanding and Designing Questions Based on Minimum Competency Assessment in Babat Lamongan District

One of the latest topics in the world of education is the presentation of policies regarding the replacement of the National Examination (UN) into a Minimum Competency Assessment (AKM) and a character survey by the Minister of Education and Culture. With the new policy, all schools and school residents must make preparations as early as possible. Because this policy has never been implemented before, most educators (teachers) do not have sufficient insight into AKM. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct research on teacher competence in understanding and designing AKM-based questions. Teachers will be given a workshop that aims to provide insight and competence for teachers to prepare for the implementation of AKM in the future with the target of mathematics and science teachers at the state high school level in Babat District (SMAN 1 Babat and MAN 2 Lamongan). Workshops and mentoring for teachers are provided to prepare themselves as pioneers in the implementation of AKM who have the ability to understand and design numeracy category questions. The teachers were given pre-test and post-test during the workshop and the results would be compared and analyzed descriptively with a quantitative approach. The results of the study stated that by giving the workshop, there was an increase in the ability of teachers to understand AKM-based questions by 24.19 points. However, in the ability to design AKM questions, there was only an increase of 5.95 points. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out further post-workshop mentoring.

Promoting Active Citizenship in Mathematics and Science Teaching

The world is facing severe global challenges such as climate change, food security, rising migration, social justice, or the current corona crisis. In these times, citizenship education seems more important than ever. How can this citizenship education relate to mathematics and science learning? The research project MaSDiV (Supporting mathematics and science teachers in addressing diversity and promoting fundamental values) connected mathematics and science with citizenship education by modeling real-life problems relevant to society. In this paper, we present the foundational design features of the PD course as well the results from the accompanying evaluation of this PD course, which was implemented by partners in six countries to support teachers in connecting mathematics and science education with citizenship education. More specifically, we investigate how participating teachers experienced the PD program; how their self-efficacy beliefs, learning-related beliefs, as well as teaching practices change; and which factors contributed to that change. In order to investigate the outcome of the PD program, we surveyed N = 311 mathematics and science teachers’ pre- and post-participation of the PD in six different European countries. Among others, our results show that in general, most participating teachers reported a high overall satisfaction with the course across all six participating countries. They also indicate that teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs about using relevant contexts, their learning-related beliefs about the benefits of using contexts, as well as their own teaching practice changed significantly after participating in the MaSDiV PD course.

The Use of Outside Educational Materials in Mathematics and Science: Teachers’ Conceptions

The research for teachers’ conceptions of the outside educational materials, that they discover and use, is very limited. In addition, there is also particularly limited research comparing teachers’ conceptions of the use of educational materials on the basis of the subject they teach. The present paper aims at investigating and comparing primary school teachers’ conceptions of the use of outside educational materials in mathematics and science teaching. For the purposes of this research, an electronic questionnaire was developed and completed by 212 primary school teachers in Greece. Data analysis traced primary school teachers’ conceptions of whether they use outside educational materials and, if they do, how frequently and in what way they use them, what motivates the teachers to discover outside educational materials and where they discover them, as well as the reasons why they might not use outside educational materials. Furthermore, the differences among teachers’ conceptions of the above issues were detected on the basis of the subject they teach (mathematics, science).

Why Become a Teacher? Exploring Motivations for Becoming Science and Mathematics Teachers in Australia Science and Mathematics Teachers in Australia

There is an identified shortage of mathematics and science teachers across Australia and many of these teachers leave the profession within 3 to 5 years of graduating. This paper provides important insights on what motivates people to become science and mathematics teachers in Australia. Data drawn from two surveys, one investigating why students might become a teacher and the other examining why teachers joined the profession, are explored to provide unique insight into an area of need. Using descriptive statistics and Spearman’s rho, results suggest contribution to society and love of subject area to be among the top motivators for becoming a teacher. Financial reward and parental occupation were found to be less selected motivators. Although differences existed between the two cohorts suggesting motivations may change, similarities provide focus for future recruitment and retention of science and mathematics teachers for higher education institutions and education policy makers.

Assessing and Benchmarking Learning Outcomes of Robotics-Enabled STEM Education

Experienced middle school mathematics and science teachers were recruited for a pilot study. The teachers separately responded to a survey related to determining expected learning outcomes based on their traditional teaching, classroom experiences and observations, and self-brainstorming. The teachers then received training on how to design, develop, and implement robotics-enabled lessons under a design-based research approach for experiential learning, and taught robotics-enabled lessons to a selected student population in classroom settings. The teachers then responded to the survey for the robotics-enabled teaching. For each case (traditional and robotics-enabled), the survey responses were analyzed, and a set of expected learning outcomes of math and science lessons was derived separately. The thematic analysis results showed that the expected learning outcomes for the robotics-enabled lessons were not only related to the educational gains (content knowledge) observed in traditional teaching, but also to the improvements in the behavioral, social, scientific, cognitive, and intellectual aptitudes of the students. Then, a set of metrics and methods were proposed for assessing the learning outcomes separately. To validate the assessment metrics and methods, teachers from different schools taught two selected robotics-enabled lessons (one math, one science) to same grade students, and separately assessed the learning outcomes of each student using the proposed metrics and methods. The learning outcomes were then compared and benchmarked between schools and subjects. The results of a user study with the teachers showed user acceptance, effectiveness, and suitability of the assessment metrics and methods. The proposed scheme of assessing learning outcomes can be used to assess and justify the benefits and advantages of robotics-enabled STEM education, benchmark the outcomes, help improve teaching preparations, motivate decision-makers to confer on robotics-enabled STEM education and curricula development, and promote robotics-enabled STEM education.

Developing Teacher Credibility in Urban Environments: A B.E.A.R. Necessity

Teacher credibility is a prerequisite of effective instruction. A credible teacher is honest, knowledgeable, and caring. Credible teachers do the right thing when no one is watching; they are in control of the learning environment, but they do this in an enthusiastic and engaging way. Credibility takes time to develop. This study investigated ways in which urban teachers develop and maintain credibility in their classrooms. Participants were 22 secondary mathematics and science teachers in their first year of teaching. The researcher used the B.E.A.R. framework developed by Riner in 2008 to interpret the results. In this framework, B stands for believability; E stands for expertise; A stands for attractive power, and R stands for relationships. Results show that the participants developed credibility by being believable, by possessing content and pedagogical content knowledge, by being in charge of the classroom in a positive way, and by developing relationships with their students. Credibility is a prerequisite of effective instruction, and, in some cases, it takes time to develop. A credible teacher is honest, knowledgeable, and caring. This study investigated ways in which urban teachers develop and maintain credibility in their classrooms. Participants were 22 secondary mathematics and science teachers in their first year of teaching. Results show that the participants developed credibility by being believable, by possessing content and pedagogical content knowledge, by being in charge of the classroom in a positive way, and by developing relationships with their students.