Elementary School Female Students' Attitude towards STEM

STEM has unraveled itself as an integrated teaching learning approach that fosters ingenuity and creativity, instill innovation, inculcate critical thinking, teach problem solving and encourages experimentation. Despite of modern advances, female representation in STEM workforce is low as compared to males. Studies show that girls lose their interest and intent to major in STEM fields during their middle school. The purpose of this study was to develop female student’s attitude towards STEM at elementary level. True experimental design of quantitative approach was employed to conduct the study. The population was consisted of all the girls students of govt. school at elementary level. The sample was comprised of 8th grade female students of a public sector school in Lahore. To collect data a questionnaire developed by Friday Institute for Educational Innovation (2012) was adapted. The study was concluded on the basis of the findings that there was a significant effect of STEM integrated teaching on the female student’s attitude of experimental group as compared to the results of control group. It is recommended by the researcher that similar kind of study should be conduct using mixed method approach to validate the results of the study

Effect of Medium of Instruction on Students’ Motivation Towards Learning at Secondary Level

The present study aimed to investigate the effect of medium of instruction on students’ motivation towards learning at secondary level. It comprised of 1456 respondents as a sample of the study which were conveniently selected from public and private sector secondary schools from the district Kasur of Punjab province.Motivation scale towards learning by Sultana, (2014) having 20 Likert type items with a reliability coefficient value 0.85 was used for data collection.Findings of the study revealed that the medium of instruction had no significant effect on motivation level of students towards learning. On the basis of gender there was found no significant effect on motivation level. There was significant difference between English and Urdu mediums urban respondents’ motivation level as urban English medium students had significantly higher motivation level than urban Urdu medium students. There was significant difference between English and Urdu mediums rural respondents’ motivation level as rural Urdu medium students had significantly higher motivation level than rural English medium students. It was recommended that the findings of the study should be refined for further implications through further longitudinal studies with more data from other provinces of Pakistan

Effect of Cooperative Learning on Students’ Achievement in English Tenses

The present study aimed to find out the effect of cooperative learning onsecondary school students’ achievement in English tenses. In thisresearch pre-test posttest control group only design was used. On thebasis of 8th grade students’ scores in the subject of English conducted byPunjab Education Commission (PEC), sixty students of ninth grade, whowere enrolled in a public school, were divided into experimental andcontrol groups by using matched-pair technique. A teacher made test wasconducted as pre-test and post-test for both groups. No significantdifference was found in pre-test scores of experimental and controlgroups. The experimental group was treated by STAD (Student TeamAchievement Division) method of cooperative learning while controlgroup was taught by traditional learning under the control condition for aperiod for eight weeks. Analysis of the data revealed the performance ofexperimental group was significantly better than that of control group.Hence, it was concluded that cooperative learning was betterinstructional strategy for increasing the student achievement in Englishtenses. By viewing the information obtained by this study, the secondaryschool English teachers may be in a position to improve their teachingmethodology. Keeping in view the results of the study, curriculumdesigners and policy makers may be able to incorporate cooperativelearning as the methodological aspect of the curriculum. On the wholethe study will be useful for teachers, educationists, curriculumdevelopers, policy makers and educational administrators

Master in Education Student Attitudes towards Research: A Comparison between two Public Sector Universities in Punjab

In modern world, attitudes of people are considered more important than their experiences and academic preparation. A positive attitude towards research is a key to success and progress in the knowledge based societies. This study explored the student teacher attitudes towards research. The sample consisted of 194 participants from two public universities of Pakistan and it was taken by using census sampling technique. The participants were Master in Education students in their second semester. The Attitude towards Research scale was used for data collection. The scale was consisted of 30 items which were divided into five factors: research usefulness, research anxiety, positive attitudes, relevance to life, and research difficulties. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test and ANOVA. The results showed that student teachers have a negative attitude towards research. A significant difference was found in the attitudes with respect to the type of program and prior areas of specialization. The paper demonstrates a clear need for focus on research into student teacher attitudes towards research. Low student teacher attitudes have negative impact on the pupils. The ability of teacher education programs to alleviate the problem has wide-spread implications. The paper produces empirical evidence about the low student teacher attitudes towards research and raises questions relevant to teacher preparation role of the teacher education programs in developing higher attitudes towards research.&nbsp

Restructuring Compulsory Education in Pakistan in the Post-eighteenth Constitutional Amendment Era: Insights from the Region and Developed Nations

Free and compulsory education has become a constitutional right of all the Pakistanis since the eighteenth amendment has come into effect. Compulsory and free education requires the laws to implement the education offerings in the compulsory age group. This study draws on a desk review of the compulsory education offerings in five countries: India, USA, UK, Singapore and Finland. The study is aimed at getting insights into how compulsory education is being organized in the region and globally, and forwards some recommendations regarding how it may be organized by various provinces of Pakistan.&nbsp

Rhetorical Analysis of Introduction Sections from Humanities and Sciences Research Theses Authored by Pakistani Scholars

This research aims to investigate the rhetorical structures of the introduction sections of Pakistani research theses at postgraduate level. The corpus of study contains 32 “Introduction” sections of Pakistani research theses from two faculties: Humanities and Sciences. The faculty of Sciences include theses from disciplines of Zoology, Chemistry, Botany and Biochemistry, whereas the faculty of Humanities include theses of Mass Communication, English, Gender Studies and Computer Studies. Both qualitative and quantitative methods including textual analysis and frequency percentages have been used for data analysis. The online software Compleat Lexical Tutor(Cobb.2015) was employed to extract the sentence units of the data. A hand tagged move analysis was conducted by following Swales’ Model (2004) as a reference framework. All the instances of moves and steps were calculated to explore the rhetorical variation across two faculties. Findings of the study disclosed that Pakistani authors follow their own pattern of Move 1 (Establishing the research territory) along with the variation in frequency of its constituent steps across two faculties. The demarcation between two faculties has revealed that, in the field of sciences, there is a stronger use of topic generalization than in humanities. Moreover, the inter-textual links to prior research in the field of sciences are provided more frequently than in the field of humanities. However, scholars from the faculty of Humanities represent their stance by claiming relevance of the field

Impact of Critical Thinking Skills on Prospective Teachers’ Academic Achievement

The study intention was to find the impact of critical thinking skills (CTS) on prospective teachers’ academic achievement. The method of the study was quantitative with correlation research design. The sample of the study was 113 prospective teachers using convenience sampling from three departments of teacher education institutions. To assess the Critical Thinking skills of prospective teachers, test was developed by the research comprised of five dimensions i.e. analyzing, assumption, deduction, inferences and interpreting information. Eight statements for each dimension required 40 minute to solve. Psychometric properties i.e. Reliability and validity of test was insured by applying Cronbach alpha which was 0.72. The study results reflect that level of critical thinking skills in prospective teachers were not up to mark (Mean=55.59%), the association amongst CTS and academic achievement was significant and moderate (r=0.365). It is recommended that administrators of teacher education programs should provide opportunities to educators to promote CT skills in prospective teachers

Developing Critical Thinking Skills among Prospective Teachers through Teaching Educational Research Course: A Quasi Experimental Approach

The study aims to develop critical thinking skills among prospective teachers. The study was experimental in nature; quasi experimental approach was used to conduct the study. The population of the study was prospective teachers studying at master level. Sample of the study was 73 prospective teachers enrolled in the educational research course in two groups. The first was labeled as the control group, while one was labeled as the experimental group. To assess the critical thinking skills of prospective teachers test was developed by the research using guidelines of Watson and Glaser test. Test was consisted of five dimensions i.e. analyzing, assumptions, deduction, and inference and interpreting information. Cronbach's alpha determined the test's reliability to be 0.80. Intervention was consisted of 10 lessons related to educational research course. The prospective teachers performed well in analyzing, Assumptions, deduction and overall CTS in post-test as compare to pre-test. There was statistically noteworthy the variation between the or before as well as post-test grades of Inference and interpreting. The critical thinking skills are essential element to compete 21st century challenges. Prospective teachers have to face many educational challenges to improve students learning, it is necessary that they should be prepared with CTS either to infuse through separate curriculum or embed with existing curriculum

Use and Utility of Teacher Guides for Primary School Teachers in Punjab

This study is aimed at soliciting pubic primary school teachers’ viewpoints on use and utility of teacher guides, an initiative of government of the Punjab. Data were collected through focus group discussions of male and female teachers from District Sargodha. Teachers were asked to discuss need, importance and use of teacher guide and to suggest ways to improve. Focus group discussions were audio recorded, transcribed and analyzed for extracting themes. It was found that teachers acknowledged the need and importance of teacher guide for better teaching. It was noted from their discussion that teachers used Guides for lesson planning and activities but use of teacher guide was not optimal. Some of the teachers were using it in best possible way, while majority were using it occasionally. They highlighted difficulties and challenges like high workload, language of teacher guides and lack of learning material required for suggested activities. The y suggested revising guides for language, removing inconsistencies with respect to schedule of guide and academic calendar. They also suggested lower workload of teachers by recruiting new teachers, providing teachers with training to use guides and making monitoring and supervision more rigorou

Change in High School Students’ Attitude regarding Perceived Usefulness of Online-Live-Teaching

The objective of the study is to examine the effect of online-live-teaching on 7th grader’ attitudes and difference of attitudes towards online-live-teaching before and after experiencing it. The TAM (Technology Acceptance Model) as framework was utilized. For the study a True Experimental Design, pre and post-test control group method was used. The purpose was to find out change of attitudes towards online-live-teaching. A government high school was selected in a rural setting having around 104 students in 7th grade at least as well as having electricity and internet connectivity. Three groups were formed and the participants were assigned to each group through simple random sampling using SPSS. The A & B were the Experimental groups while C was the Control group. In the experimental group A, the 7th graders received online-live-teaching for mathematics. In group B, the teacher taught online but an assistant was present in the class who assisted the students technically. The assistance included mic setting, screen setting, online class connectivity, checking the classwork and controlling the 7th graders. The control group was taught in a routine way. The school mathematics teacher was selected to teach in all three groups. The teacher used the prescribed 7th grade Balochistan textbook board mathematics. Before experiment the teacher, the assistant and 7th graders of experimental groups A & B were trained on how to operate an online class. The duration was one quarter (04 months the students of all three groups A, B & C were asked to fill the attitude rating scale regarding students’ attitudes toward online-live-teaching before and after the experiment. The paired sample t-test was utilized. The 7th graders’ attitudes towards online-live-teaching in group A and group B were improved while in group C the attitudes were remain same