Articles

Education aims to enhance students’ mathematical abilities in alignment with the demands of the 21st century. Essential to these contemporary skills are the 4C competencies, among which is the capacity for creative thinking - a fundamental skill enabling students to critically analyze problems and devise various innovative solutions. This study endeavors to assess whether the application of Project-Based Learning (PjBL) combined with Augmented Reality (AR) enhances creative thinking abilities more effectively than PjBL alone. Employing a quasi-experimental research design, two distinct classes were subjected to different instructional treatments. The study participants comprised eighth-grade junior high school students, with each class consisting of 140 students, divided into control and experimental groups. The research instrument utilized was a test assessing mathematical creative thinking abilities. Data analysis commenced with prerequisite tests for normality and homogeneity, followed by hypothesis testing using the t-test, facilitated by SPSS 21 software. The findings revealed that that there is an influence on students’ creative thinking abilities in using PjBL using AR than PjBL without AR. This underscores the efficacy of Augmented Reality (AR) media in cultivating the creative thinking abilities of junior high school students, particularly in geometric contexts. The positive impact of PjBL augmented with AR can be attributed to the immersive nature of AR technology, which encourages students to engage creatively with projects, thereby enhancing their capacity for innovative problem-solving.

In recent decades, the world has experienced escalating global environmental crises resulting from widespread environmental degradation. The magnitude of this degradation underscores the urgent need to foster environmental knowledge, particularly among school children, who represent the future leaders and custodians of our planet. In Bhutanese school education, environmental education primarily takes place within the geography curriculum. Therefore, this study aims to assess the level of environmental knowledge among students in Key Stage III within the Bumthang district. To achieve this goal, the study employed an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design. Two hundred Key Stage III students participated in the survey, and 32 students were purposefully selected for four focus group discussions. Descriptive analysis was employed to analyze the quantitative data, while the qualitative data underwent coding and identification of emerging themes. The findings of this study indicate that students possess a low level of environmental knowledge. This low level of environmental knowledge is attributed to a lack of motivation in learning, the use of the same teaching strategies, and limited information in the text. Hence, efforts should be made to enhance motivation, diversify teaching strategies, and highlight the need for curriculum reforms to enhance students’ environmental knowledge.

Teachers’ knowledge and skills in assessment are important factors for improving the practice of Classroom Assessment (CA), which is a vital component of teaching and learning. There is ample research attempting to ascertain if training can contribute to increasing teachers’ knowledge and skills in assessment. In Bangladesh, the new curriculum places significant emphasis on classroom assessment compared to summative assessment. This study aims to answer the following questions: What is the status of Classroom Assessment Literacy (CAL) among primary school teachers in Bangladesh? What is the relationship between teachers’ training in assessment and their CAL? And what factors do teachers believe affect the translation of training in CA into CAL? The study followed a mixed-method research approach. Initially, quantitative data on teachers’ CAL and their training in CA were collected from 100 primary school teachers in Dhaka city using a CAL Test. Based on the results of this test, eight teachers with different combinations of CAL levels and training were interviewed. The results showed that the mean score of the sample of primary school teachers was above the middle score but still not high. Their mean score varied across different components of the test. For example, teachers were found to be most competent in using assessment data to make decisions and least competent in selecting appropriate assessment tools. We found that the more hours of training in assessment the teachers had, the lower they scored on the CAL test. However, this relationship was weak. We also found that having a Master of Education (MEd) degree can make a significant difference in their CAL test score. Teachers with more years of experience appeared to score lower on the test and vice versa (though not statistically significant). Qualitative data revealed that each teacher followed their own unique CA styles with a combination of different CA techniques, and there was no pattern based on teachers’ CAL test scores. However, teachers with higher CAL test scores seemed to provide feedback to their students in a more descriptive and meaningful way than teachers with lower CAL test scores. Data revealed that training is one of the sources of teachers’ knowledge and skills in CA among others. However, various enabling and deterring factors work together to determine the effectiveness of training in bringing about sustainable change in teachers’ knowledge and skills in CA. Among many factors, the “one shot” and “one size fits all” design of the trainings were found to be ineffective by teachers who have unique classroom contexts. Additionally, teachers’ own perceptions of training, the school environment, and context are also factors that affect the translation of training in CA into sustainable CAL that they can apply in practice.

Prior research has demonstrated that different noncognitive factors influence students’ science literacy. The present research investigates the relationships among students’ perceptions of their science teachers, their non-cognitive outcomes (epistemological beliefs, science interests and usefulness of science) and the influence of these factors on students’ science literacy. The data includes 5,826 15-year-old students (52.2% male and 47.8% female) who participated in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2015. The research revealed a meaningful pattern of complex relationships among non-cognitive factors and their influence on students’ science literacy, enhancing and clarifying previous research findings with both theoretical and practical significance. The results of confirmatory factor analysis show that all items in each non-cognitive outcome had reasonable factor loading, and the model had good fit indices [RMSEA = 0.037; CFI = 0.931: TLI = 0.923; SRMR = 0.032]. The results of structural equation modeling (SEM) show good fits, suggesting that students’ science interests directly influence their science literacy. Furthermore, students’ perceptions of their science teachers, epistemological beliefs and usefulness of science indirectly influence science literacy through their science interests. Evidence from PISA Vietnam 2015 data also shows the insignificant path of the usefulness of science to science literacy.