Infinity: some close encounters in physics teaching

This paper describes two examples of teaching situations in which the idea of infinity arises, and supports the conclusion that infinity is not a physical reality but a very powerful and useful mathematical device which facilitates modelling and the solution of problems in physics.

Investigating the Impact of COVID-19 toward Depression Rate of Indonesian Senior High Schools Teachers

The COVID -19 pandemic, which has been ongoing for over a year, has become a burden to the world, causing anxiety and depression. The purpose of this study is to investigate the depression and stress levels of senior high school teachers in Indonesia during the COVID-19 outbreak since they have experienced substantial teaching situations change as a result of it. In particular, the changes in their professional, as well as personal lives, pose challenges during the pandemic. This quantitative study distributing questionnaires to 50 high school teachers in Indonesia. The findings indicate that social support is the most significant factor (0,46%) needed to prevent depression and stress among the teachers. Meanwhile, workload and role conflict cover 0,74% and 0,84% respectively of variables that teachers can change with the assumption that both variables exist even before a pandemic arises. This study also reveals that teachers continue to receive less attention and support, especially in terms of their stress and depression coverage. It is because the prevailing perception is that teachers should be the ones giving attention, not the ones receiving it. The study is that to withstand the Pandemic's uncertainty where high school teacher able to minimize and overcome their depressions.

Embracing Inclusivity through Pedagogical Practices: Case Studies from Singapore Science Lessons

This paper examines the pedagogical practices in three case studies of elementary science lessons that took place in classrooms or laboratories to make connections to the discourse about inclusivity in science teaching. Using the Singapore Teaching Practice as a reference, we analyzed the pedagogical practices enacted during three lessons where specific intervention strategies were undertaken during the lessons to address the needs of students with dyslexia. Using event-oriented inquiry, nine (including one emergent) pedagogical practices were adapted by the science teachers. The findings also suggested differences in the outcomes from enacting the same pedagogical practices in different teaching situations. This study contributes to the literature by offering a situated definition of ‘pedagogical practices’, a dynamic construct in the existing literature, in the context of inclusive education. Suggestions on ways to adapt the nine pedagogical practices to enhance the reflexivity of teachers in inclusive science teaching are offered.

Teaching Fieldwork Experience: Experiment, Embodiment, Emotions

The emotional and sensual dimension of fieldwork, as well as the positionality of the researcher are often debated and considered crucial in anthropology. We assume that “good ethnography” includes sensory and bodily fieldwork experience. But how do we address these issues in teaching? How can we teach students to notice, analyse and make sense of their bodily experiences? How do we encourage the awareness of positionality? What practical steps can we take in designing suitable learning experiences that address these points? In this paper, we share our experience of teaching adapted courses that provide students with fieldwork encounters, where the significance of embodied knowledge can be explored, and their ethnographic awareness cultivated. Basing our analysis on the undergraduate Ethnographic Lab and Ethnographic Methods courses taught at the Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Warsaw, we argue that it is important to put students in uncomfortable or unusual fieldwork and teaching situations, forcing them out of their comfort zone so that they experience fieldwork encounters both emotionally and bodily. Recordings of these encounters and the bodily reactions of themselves and others constitute a core part of the data to be gathered, which prevents students from focusing solely on narratives and discourses.

PRIVACY, COVID-19 AND ONLINE TEACHING: A COMPARATIVE STUDY IN ESTONIA, FRANCE AND ISRAEL

The COVID-19 crisis is a potential watershed moment for privacy with profound long-term effects on the organization and practices of work, education, and civic engagement. In this study we focus on the profound re-negotiation of mediated personal boundaries in times of mass lockdowns and social distancing. To understand how these new social conditions might be playing out in the field of privacy, we interviewed 90 faculty in higher education in Estonia, France and Israel. Participants were asked about changes in their ICT use for personal and work purposes, with the practice of distance teaching serving as a common experience for the discussion of possible changes in their views and practices of privacy. Our findings point to the precedence of $2 considerations of privacy over $2 considerations. In other words, interviewees had very little to say about the broader forms of data collection by their employers, the state, or commercial companies that are enabled by the adoption of new ICTs. They did, though, have much to say about their mediated relations with students and colleagues, and were very much concerned with self-presentation and impression management as well as with sustaining meaningful teaching situations. In general, the prism of privacy unearths the hidden social structures of teaching and interacting online.

How Did Students with Different Learning Profiles Experience ‘Normal’ and Online Teaching Situation during COVID-19 Spring?

This study compares university students’ approaches to learning and experiences with the teaching–learning environment in general and during online studying as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. It examines students’ learning profiles and how students with different learning profiles experienced the teaching–learning environment during COVID-19 as well as their approaches to learning and study-related burnout in general. The participants were 665 first- and second-year students. The profiles were examined using K-means cluster analyses and the differences in learning profiles using one-way ANOVA and the Tuckey Test. The results show changes in students’ approaches to learning and their experiences with the teaching–learning environment and study-related burnout within the different profiles when comparing a normal situation to the COVID-19 pandemic. We suggest that changes in study-related burnout can be different among different study profiles. The results imply that students with a fragmented knowledge base and difficulties in managing time and effort would require special attention in online teaching situations.

La formación tecnológica del profesorado de música en Educación Secundaria. Un estudio de intervención basado en la integración de contenidos musicales, tecnológicos y pedagógicos en la Universidad de Valencia.

El presente trabajo de carácter descriptivo-exploratorio forma parte de un trabajo de mayor alcance realizado en Chile y España. Su objetivo ha sido fortalecer la formación tecnológica de los futuros profesores de música en Ed. Secundaria mediante el diseño, la implementación y la evaluación de una materia en dos cohortes consecutivas (cohortes 2017 y 2018, n= 81). En el diseño de intervención se tuvo en cuenta en su diseño componentes de alfabetización tecnológica, y dos estrategias de aprendizaje: proyectos (ABP) y trabajo cooperativo. La novedad del diseño consiste en la adaptación de un marco teórico de integración de contenidos disciplinares-tecnológicos-pedagógicos denominado TPACK que intenta favorecer la comprensión de la tecnología y su aplicación en la práctica docente de aula. Los productos de formación, objetos de los proyectos de trabajo, fueron materiales didácticos aplicables en el aula de Ed. Secundaria. Los resultados de ambas cohortes sugieren que los componentes caracterizadores de la intervención pueden ayudar a planificar de forma más reflexiva el uso de la tecnología musical en el aula. Además, el alumnado afirma que mejoró sus percepciones sobre sus habilidades tecnológicas en situaciones docentes y que dotaron de significado a la tecnología en su profesión. This descriptive-exploratory work is part of a larger work carried out in Chile and Spain. Its objective has been to strengthen the technological training of future music teachers in Secondary Education through the design, implementation and evaluation of a subject in two consecutive cohorts (cohorts 2017 and 2018, n= 81). The design of the intervention took into account technological literacy components, and two learning strategies: projects (ABP) and cooperative work. The novelty of the design consists in the adaptation of a theoretical framework for the integration of disciplinary-technological-pedagogical contents called TPACK that tries to improve the understanding of technology and its application in classroom teaching practice. The training products, the objects of the work projects, were didactic materials applicable in the classroom of the Secondary School. The results of both cohorts suggest that the characterizing components of the intervention can help to plan more reflectively the use of music technology in the classroom. In addition, students claim to have improved their perceptions of their technological skills in teaching situations and to have given meaning to technology in their profession.

Research on Academic Burden from International Perspective

Academic burnout of basic education is widespread in varying degrees in the global scope, and such situation is particularly serious in Chinese primary and secondary schools. International research has rarely mentioned the concept of academic burden, which is mainly described in other similar concepts, such as academic burnout, academic stress, academic depression and academic anxiety. In addition, studies in other countries have paid more attention to the negative influence of academic load on students’ body and mind. Based on international perspective, the paper clarifies the somatic and psychological symptoms, behavior and attitude symptoms and symptoms of academic burnout caused by heavy academic burden, analyzes the influence factors of academic burden, and compares the function and applied scope of inventories and scales for academic burden. Findings enlighten us to focus on the teaching situations and students’ nature, increase empirical research and quantitative research of academic burden, put forward evidence-based, operational and pragmatic strategy of alleviating academic burden.

Train as a Math Teacher: Creative and Proactive Process of Professional Development

In this article we share a study on a professional development training program for math teachers. It is presented as innovative as it focuses on the reflection on the practice of teaching through the raising and solution of professional problems. We define professional problems, such as those teaching situations to which the teacher seeks solutions. We demonstrate with excerpts from working sessions that these solutions are nourished by the reflection on the practice they are trying to modify. They are, as a whole, indicators of specialized knowledge that characterize a professional of teaching mathematics.