This study examined pre-service elementary teachers’ (PET) informal reasoning across technology-, culture-, and daily routine‐based socioscientific issues (SSI), considering gender and residential area. A total of forty-one PET participated in the study. The data were collected through socioscientific scenarios developed by the researchers and analyzed in terms of reasoning patterns and types. Qualitative and quantitative research approaches were used to analyze the data. Findings revealed significant variations in informal reasoning across different SSI contexts and demographics, suggesting that using diverse socioscientific contexts can enhance students’ informal reasoning and support science education’s aim of developing informed decision-makers.
Research has been conducted on the effectiveness of using WhatsApp for teaching and learning; however, few scholars have addressed pre-service teachers’ experiences in early childhood education in developing countries such as South Africa. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore pre-service teachers’ experiences of using WhatsApp as an instructional aid in an early childhood education program. The study is grounded in TPACK which emphasizes the importance of integration of technology into the learning of specific subjects such as those subjects in early childhood education. Research questions focused on participants’ uses, benefits, and challenges of integrating WhatsApp as a learning tool. A purposeful sampling method was used to select eight (8) final-year pre-service teachers who have been enrolled in the early childhood education program. The study used semi-structured interviews and classroom observations. The researchers collected the frequency of posts to assess the level of participation. Interviews were transcribed, and the data were coded to identify patterns and major themes. The results revealed that pre-service teachers had a positive experience with the use of WhatsApp as an academic tool for sharing learning material and as a communication tool as well as a collaboration tool. Participants also identified challenges to learning using WhatsApp such as the cost of data, connectivity, and load-shedding. Therefore, the paper proposes the use of WhatsApp in teacher education programs to bridge the gap between theory and practice. Furthermore, the pre-service teachers were provided with explicit guidelines for engagement that encompassed several subjects and delineated the criteria for an approved contribution.
This article reports the results of in-depth interviews with six Arab Israeli women and six American women college students, in order to understand the stereotypes, they hold about each other, and to suggest ways of breaking down these stereotypes. The American women imagined their Arab counterparts as wearing a hijab and having restricted freedom and opportunities. The Arab women imagined the Americans as being overly liberal and having no restrictions on their life choices. All the women were aware that the stereotypes they hold come largely from the media and social media. Educational approaches to breaking down stereotypes are suggested.
In this study, a comprehensive approach to advance authentic critical pedagogy and citizenship education in higher education, drawing on Freirean philosophical thought, is explored. Foundational work in this area and contributions to social justice education, participatory education, the use of dialogue as an educative act, and the linking of reflection to action have inspired a cadre of educators to pay more serious attention to critical pedagogy. In contemporary global societies shaped by neoliberalism and deepening economic disparity, educators remain steadfast in their ambitions to forge opportunities for marginalized children and minority groups via educational provisions of equity, amelioration, emancipation, and empowerment. The afflictions and adversities of outright corruption, malignant stress, dictatorial restraint, and grievous oppression nonetheless suffocate both educational provisions and pedagogic practice in the hands of defeated and shackled educators. Policies and practices of exclusion, tolerance, protectionism, and oppression have burgeoned while cultural imperialism, monoculture, ethnocentrism, and fear grip minds. Despite challenges, catalysts, and hopes endeavor vigorously to redress the plight of the disadvantaged. A focus is placed on the most imperative global pedagogical issue of social justice and the critical task of maintaining diversity through education in order to examine how these crucial questions have been theorized and debated, subsequently charting a pathway towards amelioration. The study also recommends the need to address and challenge the inequalities and injustices that permeate existing educational systems. It welcomes humility, patience, and compassion in this effort while also affirming that love is a precondition for the development of critical consciousness.
This study explored middle school social studies teachers’ perceptions of Man: A Course of Study (MACOS), an anthropological curriculum. The participants were 12 middle school social studies teachers from the United States. A qualitative case study using semi-structured interviews addressed two research questions: (1) What are faith-based middle school social studies teachers’ perceptions of Man: A Course of Study? (2) How do faith-based middle school social studies teachers view the supplemental curriculum in relation to the social studies curriculum?
