The integration of digital technologies in mathematics education has become increasingly important for enhancing teaching effectiveness and student engagement. In this context, developing preservice teachers' Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) and positive attitudes toward Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is essential. A quasi-experimental one-group pretest-posttest design was employed with 40 third-year preservice mathematics teachers enrolled in an eight-week learning media course. Data were collected using validated TPACK and Attitudes toward ICT instruments, each based on 5-point Likert scales. The results revealed that: (1) preservice teachers possessed initial competencies across all TPACK components and ICT attitudes, and demonstrated significant improvements in all areas following the intervention; (2) Articulate Storyline had a statistically significant positive effect on all TPACK domains and ICT attitudes (p < 0.05), with large effect sizes for each component (d > 0.80); (3) initial levels of ICT attitude significantly influenced the development of TK, TPK, and TPACK (p < 0.05), with large effect sizes for (Technological Knowledge)TK (d = 1.076) and TPACK (d = 1.044), and a moderate effect for TPK (d = 0.674); and (4) initial levels of general TPACK (gTPACK) significantly affected post-intervention ICT attitudes (p = 0.011), with a large effect size (d = 0.882). These findings highlight the value of integrating digital tools such as Articulate Storyline into teacher education curricula to support the development of digital pedagogical competencies. The results underscore the importance of strengthening preservice teachers' foundational ICT and TPACK knowledge to better prepare them for technology-enhanced learning environments.
This study examines the effects of a piano ensemble course on piano performance skills, aesthetic education outcomes, and student satisfaction among students at six engineering-oriented higher education institutions in Shenzhen. The research also investigates implementation challenges and explores whether the course enhances students' teamwork, creativity, and social skills. A mixed-methods research design was employed, combining quantitative data from a Likert scale questionnaire administered to 507 students across five universities with qualitative data from 23 semi-structured interviews of Shenzhen Polytechnic University. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and correlation analysis, while qualitative data were coded using grounded theory methods. The study also considers curriculum adaptations to support students facing social and cultural risks, ensuring inclusive and equitable learning opportunities. Results indicate that the piano ensemble course significantly improved students' musical expression, performance skills, and aesthetic abilities, with all dimensions achieving mean scores above 3.0 (moderate-high satisfaction). The relationship between theoretical knowledge gained from the course and the level of student satisfaction with the course has been established as having a strong positive correlation (r = 0.812), showing that there is a relationship between high levels of theoretical knowledge and increased satisfaction with the course. However, four key challenges emerged: inadequate equipment, varied student skill levels, collaboration difficulties, and time management constraints. Student satisfaction was positively correlated with course design, teaching implementation, and resource provision. This study provides empirical evidence and practical recommendations for enhancing aesthetic education curricula in engineering-focused higher education institutions.
Recognition of the contribution of non-formal education to diverse populations has grown in recent years. In geo-social peripheral areas, non-formal education seeks to address social and educational disparities. The leadership program conducted in non-formal educational centers offers a notable example. This article examines how youth participants describe the development of feelings of belonging and commitment in such non-formal settings. In the current study, two rounds of interviews were conducted with a group of at-risk adolescents who had participated in the program. By exploring retrospective and prospective viewpoints, we gained a deeper understanding of the processes the participants underwent within the non-formal program. Our analysis draws on the principle of expressive instrumentalism, which posits that non-formal education typically combines activities pursued for immediate gratification with those oriented toward future value. Five stages were identified in the development of commitment and belonging to the program: social setting, flow, routinization, proactivity, and conscious application. This multi-stage process comprises two main phases: (1) the unfolding of expressive instrumentalism in non-formal activities, beginning with an emphasis on the expressive dimension and gradually strengthening the instrumental one; and (2) the development of participants' awareness of the instrumental dimension, alongside a deepening sense of belonging and commitment. By examining how youth participants perceive the role of non-formal educational programs in relation to belonging, commitment, and future orientation in the geographical, social, and educational peripheries, this study contributes to a broader understanding of the potential of non-formal education for at-risk youth populations.
This study examines teaching reform in Huangmei Opera singing at Anhui Vocational and Technical College and its impact on student development and cultural transmission. Thirty first-year students participated. Data were collected through focus groups, pre- and post-skill assessments, performance evaluations, and satisfaction questionnaires. Results showed significant improvements across eight teaching modules, with score increases of 22-29 points (p < 0.0001). Overall singing skills improved by an average of 22.37 points (t = 23.52, p < 0.001), alongside higher learning motivation and a stronger sense of cultural identity. Both physical and social learning environments received high ratings (means of 4.92 and 4.89). Notably, social identity construction and environmental factors interacted synergistically rather than independently. Their combined effect (mean = 4.93) surpassed individual influences, demonstrating a multiplicative impact on learning outcomes and cultural engagement.
Educational inequality persists in China despite national educational reforms, particularly affecting migrant children's schooling experiences. A key driver of these systemic and stage-based inequities is the hukou (household registration) system, alongside uneven local policy implementation. Migrant children in urban areas, especially those concentrated in high-density migrant communities, continue to face limited access to quality preschool, upper secondary, and higher education. This study examines how educational inequities manifest across different stages of schooling and evaluates discrepancies between policy intent and implementation across regions. A mixed-methods approach was employed, combining longitudinal data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) (2010-2020) with qualitative analysis of national and municipal policy documents. Quantitative analyses assessed enrollment, dropout, and transition patterns across educational stages, regions, and migrant status. Qualitative coding examined policy dimensions including hukou-related access, funding mechanisms, Gaokao eligibility criteria determining access to China's national college entrance examination and school integration measures. Findings indicate an overall increase in enrollment rates following policy reforms; however, persistent restrictions remain, particularly at the preschool and post-secondary levels. The study further reveals that although national and regional policies share common objectives, their localized implementation leads to uneven outcomes across cities. Financial, administrative, and social barriers continue to constrain equitable access and educational continuity for migrant children. These findings highlight the need for more coherent alignment between national policy goals and local execution to effectively reduce educational inequality.
This study examines the practical challenges and countermeasures concerning contemporary Chinese university students' identification with mainstream values amidst the pervasive influence of fan culture. Against the backdrop of fan culture's growing prominence as a youth subculture, the research aims to reveal the generative logic of value identification among students driven by this phenomenon, analyze the practical dilemmas confronting their embrace of mainstream values, and propose targeted strategies. This study adopts a structured literature review combined with theoretical modeling and empirical validation. A PRISMA-guided screening process was employed to analyze 76 peer-reviewed studies, based on which a generative logic framework was constructed. The proposed framework was further validated through analytical synthesis and a mixed-indicator evaluation design integrating attitudinal, behavioral, and discourse-based assessment tools. Findings indicate that under fan culture's influence, university students' value identification follows a three-dimensional formation logic: self-driven demand for community autonomy and idol worship; emotional resonance through symbolic interaction in collective rituals and social participation; and community contagion via intra-circle value dissemination and group identity formation. Concurrently, prominent challenges include the subculture's erosion of mainstream value authority, deviation from mainstream value trajectories, and diminished efficacy of mainstream value discourse dissemination. Consequently, the study proposes three targeted problem-solving strategies. This research enriches the theoretical framework at the intersection of youth subcultures and mainstream value education, while also providing practical guidance for educational administrators and relevant governance bodies.
Contemporary Chinese fiction incorporates two creative methodologies influenced by the Buddhist concept of Samsara: the "Explicit Samsara Narrative" and the "Implicit Samsara Narrative." The Explicit Samsara Narrative transcends human-animal boundaries, employing non-human perspectives to offer a microscopic view during grand historical events. This technique enriches the narrative with folkloric realism, historical testimony, and symbolic meaning, while shifting religious belief from sacred to secular. It builds a tripartite trajectory of "Folkloric Adaptation - Utilitarian Deconstruction - Realist Criticism," preserving cultural mysticism and highlighting the synergy between religion and rural Chinese society. In contrast, the Implicit Samsara Narrative doesn't overtly depict Samsara but embeds its cyclical concept into the narrative structure. It operates on two levels: one, the spatial-temporal transformative nature of Samsara within a single text, and two, the interconnected historical cycles across multiple works. This approach refines traditional Samsara philosophy, infusing it with modern artistic styles and accomplishing an inward turn of Chinese culture and esthetics. Through these methods, contemporary Chinese fiction engages deeply with its historical and philosophical roots.
Student dropout is an important event in the quality assurance of academic programs in universities. Using traditional control charts to monitor this phenomenon is affected by the excessive variability of the data, which leads to noncompliance with the assumptions required for their application. For this reason, this paper develops a methodology for choosing a control chart for monitoring university student dropout, considering overdispersed data. The methodology consists of four steps: (i) Determination of the variable of interest, (ii) Overdispersion diagnosis, (iii) Development of control charts, and (iv) Analysis of control charts results. The methodology is applied in a real case, and the established choosing criteria facilitated decision-making on the control chart suitable for monitoring.
The influence of rich media learning environments (LE) on student behaviors in Chinese language learning settings in Northern Thailand was explored in this study, highlighting the mediating role of student satisfaction in shaping motivation and engagement. Based on expectancy value theory, a three-part framework was developed to link students' perceptions of technology-supported environments, their emotional responses, and behavioral engagement. The study involved 271 students and 30 Chinese language teachers, using a reliable parallel survey design. Results showed that satisfaction significantly mediated engagement: when students perceived strong instructional support and access to rich digital resources, satisfaction increased (beta = 0.62), leading to higher behavioral engagement (beta = 0.78). However, teachers observed a more direct relationship between rich media attributes and student behavior, with no significant link between satisfaction and observable engagement. Overall, the findings emphasize the importance of well-designed digital learning environments in enhancing student satisfaction and engagement. A quantitative bias evaluation was conducted by comparing student self-reports and teacher observations using paired-sample t-tests and effect size estimation (Cohen's d), enabling systematic assessment of perceptual discrepancies. Furthermore, the threshold value of 6.22 used to identify significant divergence was derived based on statistical distribution criteria and validated against standard deviation-based cutoff principles, ensuring analytical rigor and robustness of bias interpretationThe findings demonstrate that supportive rich media environments effectively enhance student motivation and learning behavior in Chinese as a foreign language, contributing valuable insights to the literature on educational media and technology-enhanced language learning.
The existing literature on school discipline suggests an overrepresentation of Black students experiencing exclusionary discipline. This overrepresentation has also been associated with lower educational attainment and, consequently, poor schooling outcomes. Using a critical race theory approach, this study examines the extent to which race predicts students' likelihood of experiencing multiple instances of Out of School Suspension (OSS) in South Carolina. The current analysis utilized cross-sectional data from the Civil Rights Data Collection from the U.S. Department of Education. Hierarchical linear modeling confirms that Black racial identities are associated with increased likelihood of experiencing multiple instances of OSS. Using a critical race theory approach allowed us to consider these disparities within the historical, social, and political context of South Carolina. Moreover, our findings suggest that the disproportionality in school discipline data points to a manifestation of racism in South Carolina schools. We highlight the need for teachers and school leaders to be adequately trained in culturally responsive teaching and leadership practices to better address these disparities.
The growing influx of foreign students into the Republic of Kazakhstan underscores the importance of understanding their adaptation to the university environment. This study aims to identify the challenges faced by foreign students during this adaptation process and to propose effective solutions. The study employed methods of analysis, synthesis, comparison, and an author-designed questionnaire, "Success of the Adaptation Process". Key concepts such as "adaptation" and "social-pedagogical adaptation factors" were examined, and the differences between social and psychological adaptation were explored. Findings indicate that foreign students encounter various challenges, including language barriers, communication difficulties with teachers, discrepancies in educational systems (especially in assessment), and issues related to dormitory life. The study also revealed that adaptation stress is most intense during the first year of study and decreases in subsequent years. A questionnaire of 1769 foreign students at Al-Farabi Kazakh National University showed that while most students faced difficulties, 60% reported a high level of satisfaction with their education and social adaptation. The research highlights the importance of teachers in facilitating the adaptation process. To address the challenges, the study recommends methods such as joint activities with local students and teachers, long-term language courses, and the use of social networks. The study also emphasizes the role of mentors in accelerating adaptation. The results of this study can inform university management and educators in Kazakhstan, enhancing the integration of foreign students and improving international education.
The advancement of Internet of Things (IoT) technology has brought several strategies into training activities. The inclusion of flipped class-room (FC) teaching methods and learning frameworks improves the role of technology in educational institutions. The reverse teaching method provides a learning platform for students to achieve opti-mum results. The traditional FC method does not allow for adapta-tion. To improve this, an IoT-based FC framework is proposed for evaluating the effectiveness of the re-conditioned education strategy. This framework is evaluated using digital teaching strategies and dynamic content generation. Student performance is evaluated at dif-ferent entry levels, cognitive abilities, and service quality. The trial results showed an achievement rate of 98.87% using FC technology.
This study aims to provide an in-depth understanding of the increasing school dropout rates among South Korean adolescents, despite a rapidly declining school-age population. Utilizing data from a longitudinal qualitative study initiated in 2018, this research analyzes interview transcripts from a panel of 51 out-of-school youth. The findings reveal that the reasons for dropping out are multifaceted, occurring at the individual, family, peer, and school levels. These reasons are systematically categorized using the tripartite framework of "push," "pull," and "falling out" factors. Specifically, rigid curricula and conflicts with teachers act as powerful "push" factors; the need for early career specialization or economic contribution serves as "pull" factors; and prolonged lethargy or psychological distress leads to a gradual "falling out" process. Critically, this study demonstrates that dropping out is rarely a result of a single, isolated event. Instead, it is the culmination of a "system failure" where multiple risk factors across different life domains intersect and accumulate over time. Based on these insights, the study proposes targeted policy interventions, including the implementation of flexible, student-centered curricula, the development of data-driven early warning systems, and the establishment of multi-layered support networks involving schools and local communities.
While previous studies have endorsed the potential of adopting artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in several areas of second language (L2) education, their influence on psychological needs of learners in under-resourced contexts has remained uncharted. To address this gap, our study adopted an experimental study to examine if AI adoption could affect learners' basic psychological needs satisfaction. In doing so, it drew on the Motivation, Engagement and Thriving in User Experience (METUX) model and assigned 218 Iranian under-resourced English as a foreign language (EFL) students into control and experimental groups. A questionnaire measuring basic psychological needs was completed before and after an AI-powered intervention course that lasted a year. The results of repeated measures MANOVA indicated that the use of AI technologies could significantly satisfy EFL students' psychological needs in terms of all components of METUX, yet in varying effect sizes. The strongest effect was observed in the adoption phase, while the interface component yielded the smallest effect. The study encourages training courses for cultivating AI literacy in under-resourced contexts as a facilitator of psychological need satisfaction in the age of AI-mediated education.
One of the central questions in school discipline research and policy is the extent and variation of exclusionary discipline across regions, states, and districts in the United States (U.S.). This study uses five waves of school-level data (2011-12 through to 2021-22) from the Civil Rights Data Collection and district-level data from the Stanford Education Data Archive to examine trends in the prevalence of and disparities in suspensions across regions and states in the U.S., and to investigate how observable neighborhood and district characteristics predict suspensions at the district-level. Nationwide across the 2011-12 to 2021-22 period, we find that the overall in-school suspension (ISS) rate (5.56%) is roughly equal to the out-of-school suspension (OSS) rate (5.61%). The ISS rate in the South (8.44%) is the highest suspension rate across both types and across all regions. The findings highlight the importance of focusing on both suspension types, especially given the prevalence of ISS in the South. Notably, across all regions, Black suspension rates, regardless of suspension types, are the highest of all student groups. We also find that district-level economic indicators and neighborhood racial composition are significant predictors of school discipline outcomes. Scholarly and policy implications are discussed.
The federal McKinney-Vento Act requires that schools identify and support students experiencing homelessness. Our mixed methods study draws on data from Detroit to examine the extent to which schools adequately identify students, which students are overlooked and why, and, from the perspective of families, what might explain the gaps in identification. We find that schools fail to identify nearly three-quarters of homeless students, with differences in identification related to student, school, housing, welfare, and educational outcomes characteristics. Our qualitative data suggests that this undercount is related to parents' trust in schools, lack of awareness of McKinney-Vento services and protections, and, in some cases, a lack of follow-through by schools. We conclude with implications for policy and practice.
In this study, I explored how high school-aged youth experiencing homelessness navigate racially and geographically stratified spaces to access the educational and physiological resources necessary to complete high school. Drawing on comprehensive interviews with 23 youth in Los Angeles County, I investigated how systemic inequities in spatial resource distribution shape student mobility, access to school supports, and the role of institutional and community actors. Using social-capital theory and the American Human Development Index (HDI) as guiding frameworks, results reveal how youth traverse neighborhoods with varying levels of opportunity, often engaging in what I term resource hopping; that is, strategically traveling between underresourced and affluent areas to meet basic needs. Although schools and community-based organizations can act as critical bridges, disparities in identification, transportation, and access persist, particularly in suburban and low-HDI communities. The findings illustrate four distinct strategies youth employ to meet their needs and highlight the importance of spatially informed policies and locally grounded interventions. Study results call for a rethinking of how people conceptualize homelessness across urban and suburban geographies and urge educational and housing systems to align supports in ways that reduce the burden of navigation on youth.
Over the past several years, empirical studies have reported positive impacts of one-to-one and small-group tutoring on student academic development. This literature, however, also points to major implementation challenges, including staffing costs and low student participation rates. This paper describes a 12-week cluster randomized controlled trial that examined the efficacy of a virtual literacy-focused tutoring intervention that sought to address limitations in prior models and implementations by providing live tutoring services during the school day. Intent-to-Treat models indicate that first through fourth-grade students assigned to the program outperformed their control-group peers by roughly 0.05 SDs. However, only 20% of students received the recommended tutoring dosage. Given the variability in usage rates, we also leveraged Treatment-on-the-Treated approaches. These models suggest that students who completed 10 or more tutoring sessions experienced a reading advantage of 0.08 SDs, while those who completed 20 or more sessions-the recommended dosage-experienced a 0.26 SD developmental advantage. Further research should explore how implementation conditions, school characteristics, and student needs influence uptake rates and program effectiveness.
