Tolerance in uae islamic education textbooks

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. The concept of “tolerance” has been thoroughly promoted within educational settings in light of the increasing need to foster co-existence and to nurture peaceful climates in societies. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Islamic education curriculum promotes the notion of tolerance as a core tenant across different grade levels. However, there is a gap in the literature investigating the approach and conceptualization of tolerance in UAE Islamic education curricula. This study employed qualitative content analysis of grade 10–12 textbooks to understand how the concept of tolerance is promoted and to identify the opportunities and gaps in teaching tolerance through these texts. The notion of tolerance in these texts was discussed through the themes of civic engagement, critical thinking, acceptance of multiplicity, justice and equity, protection from extremism, and compassion for humans. This study identified gaps in addressing tolerance and suggested other concepts that could further supplement the Islamic education program to more thoroughly address the notion of tolerance. This study argues that teaching tolerance through religious-based instruction may facilitate an exploration of effective tolerance inculcation approaches that provide insights into the field of tolerance education at large

Examining the use of Robots as Teacher Assistants in Uae Classrooms: Teacher and Student Perspectives

Aim/Purpose This study sought to understand the views of both teachers and students on the usage of humanoid robots as teaching assistants in a specifically Arab context. Background Social robots have in recent times penetrated the educational space. Although prevalent in Asia and some Western regions, the uptake, perception and ac-ceptance of educational robots in the Arab or Emirati region is not known. Methodology A total of 20 children and 5 teachers were randomly selected to comprise the sample for this study, which was a qualitative exploration executed using fo-cus groups after an NAO robot (pronounced now) was deployed in their school for a day of revision sessions. Contribution Where other papers on this topic have largely been based in other countries, this paper, to our knowledge, is the first to examine the potential for the inte-gration of educational robots in the Arab context. Findings The students were generally appreciative of the incorporation of humanoid robots as co-teachers, whereas the teachers were more circumspect, express-ing some concerns and noting a desire to better streamline the process of bringing robots to the classroom. Recommendations for Practitioners We found that the malleability of the robot’s voice played a pivotal role in the acceptability of the robot, and that generally students did well in smaller groups with the robot; teachers expressed concern that the children would become easily distracted should too many children be privy to one robot. Recommendations for Researchers Our results provide valuable recommendations for researchers in the area. We believe, there needs to be continued efforts in devising suitable methodo-logical assessment tools to evaluate student and teacher attitudes in the class-room particularly in the Arab world. We also advise researchers to focus on providing adaptive behavior in the context of educational robots. There are different distinct areas that need further clarifications and study based on our review. Impact on Society On a wider scale, the findings of this paper have a huge implication for the educational technology as the integration of robotics in education is one of the emerging trends in the area, particularly in the UAE. This study allows to answer questions related to attitudes and perceptions of both teachers and students toward educational robots in the UAE. Future Research Possible avenues of research in the area include focusing on the adaptive and natural behavior of robots in disciplines other than Mathematics as a means of successfully integrating robots in the classroom

Examining the use of robots as teacher assistants in UAE classrooms : teacher and student perspectives

Aim/Purpose - This study sought to understand the views of both teachers and students on the usage of humanoid robots as teaching assistants in a specifically Arab context. Background - Social robots have in recent times penetrated the educational space. Although prevalent in Asia and some Western regions, the uptake, perception and acceptance of educational robots in the Arab or Emirati region is not known. Methodology - A total of 20 children and 5 teachers were randomly selected to comprise the sample for this study, which was a qualitative exploration executed using focus groups after an NAO robot (pronounced now) was deployed in their school for a day of revision sessions. Contribution - Where other papers on this topic have largely been based in other countries, this paper, to our knowledge, is the first to examine the potential for the integration of educational robots in the Arab context. Findings - The students were generally appreciative of the incorporation of humanoid robots as co-teachers, whereas the teachers were more circumspect, expressing some concerns and noting a desire to better streamline the process of bringing robots to the classroom. Recommendations for Practitioners - We found that the malleability of the robot’s voice played a pivotal role in the acceptability of the robot, and that generally students did well in smaller groups with the robot; teachers expressed concern that the children would become easily distracted should too many children be privy to one robot. Recommendations for Researchers - Our results provide valuable recommendations for researchers in the area. We believe, there needs to be continued efforts in devising suitable methodological assessment tools to evaluate student and teacher attitudes in the classroom particularly in the Arab world. We also advise researchers to focus on providing adaptive behavior in the context of educational robots. There are different distinct areas that need further clarifications and study based on our review. Impact on Society - On a wider scale, the findings of this paper have a huge implication for the educational technology as the integration of robotics in education is one of the emerging trends in the area, particularly in the UAE. This study allows to answer questions related to attitudes and perceptions of both teachers and students toward educational robots in the UAE. Future Research - Possible avenues of research in the area include focusing on the adaptive and natural behavior of robots in disciplines other than Mathematics as a means of successfully integrating robots in the classroom

Humanoid robots as teaching assistants in an arab school

© 2019 Association for Computing Machinery. The proliferation of educational robots has led to an investigation of suitable roles that humanoids robots can take in the classroom. In the recent past, the focus has been on humanoids being used in student focused roles or as peer learners. Coupled with the seemingly absence of any case studies of educational robots in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) or the Arab world, we present a study where we employed the Nao robot as a teaching assistant in a local primary school in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The Nao robot was used to revise a topic in Mathematics and its efficacy in comparison to a human teaching assistant was measured through pre and post test scores, facial expressions and indirect verbal responses. Our results showed that while there no significant differences in test scores, the children were much more engaged when interacting with the Nao robot. We conclude with a positive outlook towards the implementation of humanoid robots in UAE classrooms