Assessing the Development of Mathematics Curricula in Jordan During the Period 1964-1999 : A Historical Study

Introduction This study aims to investigate the changes and developments in mathematics curricula, which approved by the Ministry of Education for teaching mathematics during the period (1964-1999). It also aims at highlighting the feature of every period of development and to review the reasons that lead to such development. The study has the aim to answer the following questions: 1.What are the developments that the learning objectives of mathematics curricula in Jordan have witnessed during the period (1964-1999) ? 2.What are the developments that the mathematical content of mathematics curricula in Jordan have witnessed during the period (1964-1999) ? 3.What are the developments that the instruction methods of mathematics curricula in Jordan have witnessed during the period (1964-1999)? 4.What are the developments that the evaluation methods of mathematics curricula in Jordan have witnessed during the period (1964 –1999)? The first chapter of the study describes some facts about Jordan, the educational system, and instructional plans for teaching mathematics, which was approved by MOE during the period (1964-1999), the need for developing mathematics curricula, and statement and significance of the study with the questions mentioned above, and includes the limitation of the study. The second Chapter includes on a review of literature through display the international development of mathematics curriculum and relative studies, the development of mathematics education in Germany, and the development of mathematics curriculum and relative studies in the Arab World, especially in Jordan. Chapter three describes the methodology and procedures which are used: the analysis method, (analysis procedures of content mathematics curricula, analysis tool), and the interview: (sample, interview procedures, tool, and procedures of interview analysis). Chapter four: contains the findings of the study represented with the analysis results of mathematics curriculum according to the study questions, the results of content analysis of Mathematics curricula according to the “Principles and Standards for School Mathematics” which issued by NCTM, the response and opinion of interview sample to the items of a study tool (questionnaire). Chapter five: Include discussion of the findings and the results of the study according to the study question, and investigate the characteristics and the reasons behind the development witnessed by the curricula of mathematics in Jordan during the period (1964-1999). The main analysis results of mathematics curriculum which approved by MOE in Jordan, and the opinions of the interview sample are concentrated on discussion and investigation the development characteristics of learning objectives of teaching mathematics, mathematical content, instructional and evaluation methods of teaching mathematics, according to the “Principles and Standards for School Mathematics”, and through division the whole period into three sub-periods. The curriculum documents (in English translation), the NCTM standards, and other data with additional information – among other things the results of the interviews – are arranged as appendix 1 to appendix 10. This study is significant as being one of the rare attempts in Jordan to explore the development of mathematics curricula. The study is also unique in the length of the period it has chosen, 1964-1999. As such, it can be referred to as a historical source for the evolution of mathematics curricula in Jordan, so that scholars benefit from its analysis and historical documentation of the period of the development of these curricula. It is also beneficial to the writers of school textbooks since it provides a list of universal standards used to analyze the mathematical content of curricula. These are attached in a short section as “recommendations”

Evaluation of weather station network in Jordan

Ce travail consiste en l’étude de la distribution des stations météorologiques en Jordanie selon le standard de l’organisation mondiale de la météorologie par l’utilisation de la moyenne journalière des températures minimum et maximum dans 35 stations. L’objectif est de montrer l’importance de l’optimisation de cette distribution pour une meilleure utilisation des données météorologiques. Le pays a été partagé en 18 zones en tenant compte de l’homogénéité topographique. L’analyse paramétrique de la moyenne journalière des températures minimum et maximum a été effectuée durant la période 1999-2001. Il en ressort que la densité du réseau en Jordanie a atteint 0.6 stations/1000Km2. La distance entre les stations du réseau jordanien atteint en moyenne 115 Km. L’évolution des températures maximum (minimum) a généré 5 (11) paramètres qui ont permis d’élucider à 92% (99%) les variations enregistrées. L’application de l’analyse polynomiale en utilisant la saturation des paramètres obtenus par l’analyse paramétrique fait apparaître 10 zones météorologiques en Jordanie. En revanche, la régression linéaire de la relation entre la disposition des stations et les distances qui les séparent ne montre pas une relation directe. Il est déduit que la variation de température seule ne peut pas permettre de différencier les zones météorologiques. En effet, l’altitude et le relief constituent également des paramètres déterminant. L’étude a montré que le nord-ouest de la Jordanie est la région la plus complexe, nécessitant une plus grande couverture par les stations, suivie par les régions centre et sud. Il a été montré également que les zones où la pluviométrie dépasse 200mm sont suffisamment couvertes. L’étude recommande d’une part l’installation de 3 nouvelles stations à oued Araba, sur les rives est de la mer morte et enfin au sud-est du pays, et d’autre la suppression de 25 stations dans les régions où la densité de couverture est élevée.Mots clés: Jordanie; station météorologique; zones climatiques; analyse paramétrique; régression linéaire. This study aims to evaluate weather stations distribution in Jordan according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) criteria; using the daily average maximum and minimum temperatures in 35 climatic stations. Signifïcance of this study lies in highlighting the importance of weather stations distribution on areas of Jordan, which enables researchers utilize climatic statistics available there in applied climatological studies. Some areas in Jordan suffer from rareness of such stations while other such as the northern and middle areas, enjoy intensity of climatic stations. This study depended on dividing Jordan, according to geographical homogeneity, into 18 geographical areas. Factor analysis was applied on the maximum and minimum daily average temperatures in 35 climatic stations during the period 1999 to 2001. Loading factors resulting from the analysis of the climatic stations allowed determining the homogeneous climatic areas. Cluster analysis was also applied on results of the factor analysis of similar station compounds for one cluster after determining the stations of each cluster; then each cluster was mapped by a line determining approximately the climatic region borders. A table of homogeneous climatic stations was prepared; associated with the area, number of stations along with sufficiency or rareness reference in each region according to the WMO criteria which is one station per 1000 km². Correlation coefficient among the stations was calculated according to maximum and minimum temperatures. These coefficients were used in a simple regression pattern among distance between stations and their correlating coefficients. This study showed that intensity of the weather station network in Jordan was 0.6 stations per 1000 km²; however, these stations were not fairly distributed. The desert area seemed void of climatic stations; the northern area had 4 stations per 1000 km²; whereas the southern and middle zones showed fair station distributions. The Jordanian weather stations’ network is considered reasonable in comparison with other countries, since the average distance between the climatic stations is 115 km in Jordan and 155 km in Turkey. However, it is 35 km in New Zealand and 28 km in Ireland. Maximum temperatures highlighted 5 factors through applying factor analysis. These factors explained around 92% of the variance values of maximum temperatures<; On the other hand, minimum temperatures showed 11 factors, which explained 99% of variance existing in minimum temperatures; i.e., minimum temperatures were better to utilize than maximum temperatures in distinguishing the climatic regions in Jordan. Based on factor loading analysis, it is found that 10 climatic areas representing climatic regions describe correctly the whole country. No statistically significant correlation was found when applying simple regression between the stations (depending on the max and min temperatures) and distances among stations. This means that the parameter distance among the stations was not an indication to distinguish climatic regions in Jordan. This finding emphasizes that temperature alone cannot precisely distinguish the climatic regions. There must be other factors as important as temperature, such as altitude or other geographical features which should be considered. The study showed the southwestern corner of Jordan was the most geographically complex region; hence, it needs high intensity of climatic stations. However, the next is the middle then the desert areas. It also showed that 8 areas have too many climatic stations. The number of stations, in areas with an average rainfall exceeding 200 mm, is considered as sufficient. In addition, eastern desert areas were considered in need for additional climatic stations. The study suggests establishing three more stations: in Arabah Valley, the second on the eastern coast of the Dead Sea and the third in the south-eastern corner of Jordan. The study recommends disestablishment of 25 stations in intensive areas and transference of the power in these extra stations into establishing new research studies to evaluate the rain weather stations network.Keywords: Jordan; climatic station; climatic areas; parametric analysis; linear regression

Evaluation of the 25 January Revolution from the Perspective of Change Management

Although Many people broadly believed that Egyptians were no longer able to rebel or even protest and that Egyptian youth was completely absentminded to stay away from the worries of their country and everything related to mind and politics, the youth of Egypt has undeniably made one of the most significant Egyptian uprisings after 30 years of deadlock and frustration. The 25 January Revolution publically unveiled the regime's political and economic corruption and guided the people to protest peacefully against a regime that marginalized, ignored and tried intentionally by all means to underestimate their magnificent potential values. Finally, Egyptians made use of their new communication media (social communication tools) to lead a democratic transformation process of a real change that can eventually fulfill a political, economic and social reform for bread, freedom and social justice

Errors Analysis of Solving Linear Inequalities among the Preparatory Year Students at King Saud University.

The purpose of This study aims to investigate the errors classes occurred by the Preparatory year students at King Saud University, through analysis student responses to the items of the study test, and to identify the varieties of the common errors and ratios of common errors that occurred in solving inequalities. In the collection of the data, the researcher employed the open-ended questions test consisted of nine items distributive on three types of inequalities (linear, involve absolute value and fractional). In the data analysis, descriptive analysis method was used. The result sho­wed that some students had some misconceptions and misunderstanding in solving types of inequalities. The greatest common errors ratio was (20%) in solving linear inequality come from the class “Errors in basic algebraic operations and deletion. But the ratio (22%) were the greatest common errors ratio in solving fractional and involving absolute value inequalities come from the class errors in absent meaning of inequality. Keywords: inequality, Common Errors, Misconception, Mathematics Education

Sampling-based Uncertainty Estimation for an Instance Segmentation Network

The examination of uncertainty in the predictions of machine learning (ML) models is receiving increasing attention. One uncertainty modeling technique used for this purpose is Monte-Carlo (MC)-Dropout, where repeated predictions are generated for a single input. Therefore, clustering is required to describe the resulting uncertainty, but only through efficient clustering is it possible to describe the uncertainty from the model attached to each object. This article uses Bayesian Gaussian Mixture (BGM) to solve this problem. In addition, we investigate different values for the dropout rate and other techniques, such as focal loss and calibration, which we integrate into the Mask-RCNN model to obtain the most accurate uncertainty approximation of each instance and showcase it graphically

Defect-based Condition Assessment Model of Railway infrastructure

Railway infrastructure, such as rails, ballasts, sleepers, etc., condition should be always monitored and analyzed to ensure safety and quality of the ride for both passengers and freight. Railway infrastructure has various components from different materials which make it hard to assess and monitor its condition. The majority of the existing conditions assessment models are limited either in terms of components or techniques, many models focus on the assessment of the track geometry condition depending on only the data collected from the track recording cars and a few condition assessment models to evaluate the structural condition of the railway infrastructure. Other developed models take into consideration one component or focus in utilizing one inspection technique. Therefore, the development of a comprehensive condition assessment tool that covers the numerous railway infrastructure components and the different inspection techniques is needed to ensure the safety and the quality of the service for the public. The objective of this research is to develop a defect-based condition assessment model of Railway infrastructure. This model aims to cover the structural and geometrical defects that are associated with the different components of railway infrastructure. The railway infrastructure was divided into five main components rails, sleepers (Ties), ballast, track geometry and insulated rail joints, for each component their defects were collected and categorized. Two main inputs have been used to develop the model, firstly the relative importance weights of the components, Defect Categories, and defects, secondly the defects severities. To obtain the relative importance weights the Analytic Network Process (ANP) model was adopted, ANP covers the interdependencies between the components and their defects. Fuzzification technique was used to uniform all the different defects criteria and to translate the linguistic condition assessment grading scale to a numerical score. Furthermore, the Weighted Sum Mean was used to integrate both the weights and severities to define the conditions and to evaluate the overall condition of the railway infrastructure. The data utilized in this research was obtained from railway condition classification manuals, previous research, and questionnaires distributed to professionals in Canada. The fruit of this fusion was also presented in a user-friendly automated tool using excel. The developed model was implemented in two case studies from Ontario, Canada. The model outputs and the decision made for the case studies were compared and the model gave a similar condition. This model helps in minimizing the inaccuracy of railway condition assessment through the application of severity, uncertainty mitigation, and robust aggregation. It also benefits asset managers by providing detailed condition of the Railway infrastructure, the condition of the components, defect categories and an overall condition for maintenance, rehabilitation, and budget allocation purposes

Lore: A Hybrid Card Game

Lore is a critical and creative exploration of stock characters in folktales that o en take the form of one-dimensional representations of stereotypical minorities. Lore is a social digital-physical card game that challenges these classifications by allowing players to go on a storytelling journey that brings back the orality of traditional folktales into the digital age. By engaging a research-creation approach to explore storytelling through social play, the history of literary stock characters, and the motifs and dramatic structures of folktales; the goal of this project is to create a platform that has the potential to generate discussion on stereotypes. is goal is achieved on two levels: by making non-active stereotypical characters active through agency and customized play, and by providing them with language tools and choices that augment their capacities with actions that might be unconventional to their stereotypical representations in literature

The Impact of Using WebQuests on the Palestinian Seventh Graders' English Reading Comprehension Skills and their Attitudes towards WebQuest

The study aimed to investigate the impact of using WebQuests on the Palestinian Seventh graders' English Reading comprehension skills. The target skills were prediction, skimming, scanning, guessing the meaning through context and Inference. For answering the questions of the study, the researcher adopted the experimental approach. The sample of the study consisted of (88) students distributed into two groups. One of the groups represented the control group of (44) students; and the other represented the experimental one of (44) students. The groups were randomly chosen from a purposive sample from UNRWA Maghazi Prep. Girls School (A) in Gaza Strip where the researcher works as a teacher of English language for the seventh graders. The WebQuest strategy was used in teaching the experimental group while the traditional method was used with the control one in the second term of the school year (2010-2011). An achievement reading comprehension test of five scopes with (20) items was designed and validated to be used as a pre and post test. In addition, a scale to measure the students’ attitudes toward the WebQuest in acquiring the reading comprehension skills in the English language for the seventh graders was used; it was divided into four main scopes:- Scope one was about the students’ attitudes’ toward accepting the WebQuest, and it consisted of six items; Scope two was about the students’ attitudes’ toward the teacher’s role and the classroom management, and it consisted of six items, scope three was about the students’ attitudes toward the links which were used in the WebQuest;. and finally scope four was about the students attitudes toward learning reading comprehension skills in the English language through the WebQuest and it consisted of six items. The third tool was an observation card to observe the students' performance in using WebQuest and also their performance in practicing the reading comprehension skills through the WebQuest to get data and information. It is divided into three main scopes:- Scope one was about the students' mechanisms of dealing with the program, and it consisted of five items. Scope two was about the students' cooperative learning behavior while using the WebQuest, and it consisted of four items; finally, scope three was about the students’ ability to get the required information and it consisted of six items. All these tools were prepared by the researcher. The data of the study were analyzed using T-test independent sample, which was used to determine significant differences between the groups. Effect size technique was used to measure the effect size of the WebQuest programme on the experimental group in each scope of the test. The results indicated that there were statistically significant differences between both groups in favour the experimental one, in prediction, skimming, scanning guessing the meaning of words through context and inference due to the WebQuest programme. Effect size technique indicated a large effect of the WebQuest programme on improving prediction, skimming, scanning, guessing the meaning of words through context and had a medium effect on improving the inference skill for the experimental group. The results of the questionnaire indicated an overall positive attitude toward the WebQuest. The results of the observation card indicated that there were statistically significant differences between the first and the last observation in all scopes and the total score of the observation scope, towards the last observation, which meant that the WebQuest was effective. Based on those findings, the study recommended the necessity of implementing the WebQuest method in teaching English language to bring about better outcomes in students' achievements of English language. It was also suggested that further research should be conducted on the effect of the WebQuest on different dimensions of learning English language and other school subjects

BH-centroids: A New Efficient Clustering Algorithm

The k-means algorithm is one of most widely used method for discovering clusters in data; however one of the main disadvantages to k-means is the fact that you must specify the number of clusters as an input to the algorithm. In this paper we present an improved algorithm for discovering clusters in data by first determining the number of clusters k, allocate the initial centroids, and then clustering data points by assign each data point to one centroid. We use the idea of Gravity, by assuming each data point in the cluster has a gravity that attract the other closest points, this leads each point to move toward the nearest higher gravity toward the nearest higher gravity point to have at the end one point for each cluster, which represent the centroid of that cluster. The measure of gravity of point (X) determined by its weight, which represent the number of points that use point X as the nearest point. Our algorithm employ a distance metric based (eg, Euclidean) similarity measure in order to determine the nearest or the similar point for each point. We conduct an experimental study with real-world as well as synthetic data sets to demonstrate the effectiveness of our techniques

Metabolic Syndrome and Its Individual Components among Jordanian Children and Adolescents

This study aimed to determine the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MeS) and its individual components in Jordanian children and adolescents aged 7–18 years and determine the factors that are associated with clustering of metabolic abnormalities. MeS was defined using the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) definition. The prevalence of MeS was estimated from 512 subjects who had complete information on all MeS components. The prevalence of MeS according to IDF criteria was 1.4% in subjects aged between 10 and 15.9 years and 3.6% in subjects aged between 16 and 18 years. When categorized according to body mass index (BMI), the prevalence of the MeS was 15.1% in obese subjects, compared to 0.3% in subjects with normal BMI, and 3.0% in overweight subjects. In conclusion, our results indicate that although the prevalence of MeS is low in Jordanian children and adolescents, a large proportion of them had one or two metabolic abnormalities