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Prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress among university students worldwide is high. In most cases, stress intervention is individual-based and involves small groups for relatively short periods. New evidence shows that stress increased during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2021), when learning moved to online formats and social distancing was enforced worldwide. Our research focuses on a course on adjusting to stressful situations that moved online after many years of being taught in class. Based on qualitative and quantitative analyses, we showed that the course offered students two main benefits. First, the course structure was designed as a ritual, providing students with a sense of control. Second, students were engaged in a group activity, further contributing to their ability to adjust to stressful situations, as it created a platform for sharing. Findings are discussed in the context of the ongoing pandemic, and implications for coping with student stress post COVID-19 are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following Self-Determination Theory, scholars theorize that professional well-being is essential for teachers' satisfaction and personal-professional growth. However, teacher professional development programs (TPDPs) primarily focus on promoting student achievement and only partially and indirectly address teachers' professional well-being. The lack of teachers' voices in this discrepancy is noticeable. This study aimed at confronting teachers' perceptions about their professional well-being needs with how actual practices in effective TPDPs address these needs. Well-being components (competence, relatedness, autonomy, and aspirations) were thematically identified within 20 interviews with expert STEM teachers. The findings show that teachers attribute importance to their professional well-being in all components. In particular, aspirations for personal-professional growth, pointed out by teachers as the most important, were totally ignored by effective TPDPs. The findings emphasize the need to establish well-being as an additional characteristic of effective TPDPs. This additional characteristic may have practical and theoretical implications for designing and assessing TPDPs' effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Systems thinking and abstract thinking are important skills for engineers in general and hardware and software engineers in particular. Systems thinking emphasises the interdependence of system components and their synergy. Abstract thinking permits one to focus on the significant details of the current perspective, while temporarily neglecting the less relevant details of the stage in question. So far, systems thinking and abstract thinking have each been characterised separately, but a possible relation between them has not yet been examined. The study described in the paper explored the interrelations between systems thinking and abstract thinking among high-school students executing their final project. In the study, which used quantitative and qualitative tools, participated 239 Israeli twelve graders majoring in electronics. The findings indicate a significant moderate positive correlation between systems thinking and abstract thinking. The systems thinker and the abstract thinker share common cognitive characteristics, but differ in features related to knowledge and background, and interpersonal skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a dynamic and competitive environment, how do complex organisations maintain continuity and function without falling apart? This question will be examined in the context of the Israeli Police training organisation, which consists of several sub-organisations. Although they share similar goals, each has different objectives, trains police of different duties, and operates in a different geographical location. The common organisational characteristics promote shared perception and behaviour patterns for employees, which in turn, stabilise the organisation facing a complex environment. To reveal common perceptions of the training personnel, the research methodology chosen was qualitative, specifically, grounded theory methodology. The shared pattern reflects a paradoxical perception which simultaneously incorporates two poles – reductive and expansive – in each of four organisational core components diagnosed in the research: the training-organisation mission, training processes, organisational work-related processes, and the training personnel characteristics. The reduction-expansion paradox suggests an organisational perception pattern, embedded across the organisational core components, which offers a dynamic explanation for the continuity of the organisation in its complex environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a tutor-centered tutoring model that aims to develop and establish the pedagogical-disciplinary knowledge and skills of prospective teachers. The tutoring model and the research that accompanied its implementation are presented. The tutor-tutee pairs worked for two five-session cycles for two semesters, enabling prospective teachers to experience teaching situations by guiding the tutee through problem-solving processes. The sessions were based on difficulties that arose during the tutees' learning process. The research findings focus on the evaluation of the model by its participants - tutors, tutees and program coordinator - and indicate that the main tutoring targets were achieved. This tutoring model was implemented with prospective computer science teachers; we suggest, however, that it is applicable in teacher preparation programs in other disciplines in which problem solving is inherent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the role of reduction in computer science and describes a study on undergraduate students' perception of the concept of reduction. Specifically, based on an analysis of students' answers to questions addressing different computer science topics, we present several findings regarding the ways in which undergraduate students conceive of and apply reduction. These findings can be interpreted within the framework of the tension that exists between the following two factors: The need to think in terms of high levels of abstraction, on one hand, and the fact that reduction introduces a new approach to be used in problem-solving situations, on the other. In addition the paper suggests several teaching applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a study that aims at constructing a teaching framework for software development methods in higher education. The research field is a capstone project-based course, offered by the Technion's Department of Computer Science, in which Extreme Programming is introduced. The research paradigm is an Action Research that involves cycles of data collection, examination, evaluation, and application of results. The research uses several research tools for data gathering, as well as several research methods for data interpretation. The article describes in detail the research background, the research method, and the gradual emergence process of a framework for teaching software development methods. As part of the comprehensive teaching framework, a set of measures is developed to assess, monitor, and improve the teaching and the actual process of software development projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents an introduction to the articles published in December 2004 issue of the journal "Computer Science Education."

This paper analyses a lecture by an excellent teaching award winner professor of mathematics, given to high school mathematics teachers. The analysis is based upon two sources: (i) the lecture plan, as expressed in a series of 29 transparencies, prepared by the lecturer in advance; (ii) the actual implementation of the lecture, as transcribed from its video-taped record. Based on this analysis six principles for planning and giving a good lecture were developed. The paper provides the readers with full details of the content as well as non-verbal communication gestures exemplifying the employment of the six principles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on abstraction and ways in which students cope with abstraction. The article has two goals: first, it illustrates how the theme of reducing abstraction (Hazzan, 1999) is useful for analyzing students' thinking about abstract concepts in mathematics and in computer science; science; second, it demonstrates how theories based on mathematics education research can be applied to analyzing students' understanding of computer science concepts. The main section of the article analyzes the understanding of concepts from four fields - abstract algebra, computability, data structures and difffeerntial equations - through the lens of reducing abstraction. The analysis shows that a wide range of cognitive phenomena can be explained by one throetical framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the idea of 'following the flow of a proof with an example' in order to assist the learner in the challenging task of understanding mathematical proofs. This strategy is termed 'mimicry of a proof'. However, such mimicry can be impractical or unreasonably demanding when the mathematical objects in the proof are difficult to manipulate without technological enhancement. This is the case with many proofs in Linear Algebra, in which the manipulated objects are vectors or matrices. Therefore, the article focuses on the idea of proof mimicry with a computer algebra system (CAS). As examples, this strategy is applied to the proofs of two theorems: the basis theorem and the orthogonalization theorem. In addition, pedagogical guidelines to be followed in constructing a set of computer activities for students are presented and examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the findings of a study on the attitudes of prospective high school mathematics teachers toward integrating computers into their future classroom teaching. Ninety-four prospective teachers in four classes that focused on didactic and cognitive aspects of learning mathematics with computers were asked to present pro and con arguments that would influence their use of computers in their future mathematics teaching. A two-dimensional framework is used to present an analysis of he prospective teacher's arguments, which were collated through written questionnaires and class discussions. One dimension relates to the class components of a lesson: learner, teacher, mathematical content, learning environment, and class atmosphere. The second dimension is made up of the psychological aspects: cognitive, affective, and social. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents information on university course Web sites. Purpose of the Web site; Structure of the Web site; Contents of the Web site.