Effectiveness and Transformation in Students’ Beliefs: A Case of Collaborative Teaching

Comparison of collaborative and traditional teaching in enhancing mathematics students’ scores at 8th grade was the purpose of this study. It also investigated the transformation in the students’ beliefs about teaching of mathematics while studying through collaboration of teachers. An experimental design was used to conduct the experiment on 118 students. Three voluntary Mathematics teachers with same qualification were participating in the experiment. Mathematics achievement test consisting of 32 items were finalized from items pool developed by NEAS. The data through structured interviews were conducted three times in the study to investigate the transformation in students’ beliefs. The interviews were videotaped.  Data collected from test were analyzed by using average, standard deviation, and 2x2 ANOVA. The qualitative data were first transcribed then analyzed using percentages and line graph. It was found that teaching through collaborative settings improved students scores in mathematics as compared to traditional teaching and a clear positive transformation in beliefs of student’s was noted about teaching of mathematics. It was suggested to practice collaborative teaching to teach mathematics and to transform students believes about its teachin

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

Coping with changing conditions: alternative strategies for the delivery of maternal and child health and family planning services in Dhaka, Bangladesh

The door-to-door distribution of contraceptives and information on maternal and child health and family planning (MCH-FP) services, through bimonthly visits to eligible couples by trained fieldworkers, has been instrumental in increasing the contraceptive prevalence rate and immunization coverage in Bangladesh. The doorstep delivery strategy, however, is labour- intensive and costly. More cost-effective service delivery strategies are needed, not only for family planning services but also for a broader package of reproductive and other essential health services. Against this backdrop, operations research was conducted by the Centre for Health and Population Research at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B) from January 1996 to May 1997, in collaboration with government agencies and a leading national nongovernmental organization, with a view to developing and field-testing alternative approaches to the delivery of MCH-FP services in urban areas. Two alternative strategies featuring the withdrawal of home-based distribution and the delivery of basic health care from fixed-site facilities were tested in two areas of Dhaka. The clinic-based service delivery strategy was found to be a feasible alternative to the resource-intensive doorstep system in urban Dhaka. It did not adversely affect programme performance and it allowed the needs of clients to be addressed holistically through a package of essential health and family planning services