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The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of Ramadan-intermittent fasting and different times of the day on the physical parameters of taekwondo athletes. A total of 15 professional Taekwondo athletes, 8 male and 7 female, participated in the study. Performance tests were performed one week before Ramadan (BR), the second week of Ramadan (SWR) and the end of the fourth week of Ramadan (ER) at 07:00 and 17:00. The descriptive statistics of the participants were as follows: mean age 21.131.90 years, height 169.53±8.64, weight 64.80±18.48 in BR and 62.33±16.91 in ER. Speed (30m), agility (hexagon), lower extremity flexibility (hip flexion angle=ROM), and vertical jump strength (counter movement jump=CMJ) performance determination tests were performed. Goniometer was used for lower extremity flexibility measurement and My Jump2 application, which has been proven to be valid and reliable, was used for CMJ performances. The data obtained were evaluated in the statistical package programme (SPSS) at a significance level of 0.05 using parametric (independent t-test) for agility and nonparametric (Mann-Whitney U) test for other tests according to normality test. It was observed that morning and evening hours of different days had no significant effect on speed, agility, flexibility and jumping force values (p>.05), agility test data differed only before and after Ramadan and this difference was in favour of after Ramadan. At the same time, it was observed that the values obtained from the agility test were higher in the morning before Ramadan (11.20 sec) and in the evening before Ramadan (11.28 sec) than in the evening after Ramadan (10.06 sec). As a result, we can say that long-term malnutrition of athletes does not have a positive or negative effect on many performance characteristics. It is thought that learning the findings obtained in this study and future studies by the coaches may provide important contributions to the coaches to prepare and organise more appropriate training programmes for the athletes.

A cross-cultural historical examination of Santa Claus reflects that women have contributed substantially to the legend of Santa Claus, but their contributions are downplayed, demeaned, or reframed to fit a sexist view of women's roles. Santa Claus type figures have emerged around the world as part of celebrations of the winter solstice, but strategically removed from their original cultural context to be portrayed to be part of a Christian holiday, when in fact they are not. In most reviews of the winter holidays around the world, there is almost no mention of the vital role that women play in their creation and sustainability. In a diversified world, it is time to change the narrative of this altruistic figure so that he can become more inclusive for all.

Purpose: This study examines the attitudes of Jewish and Arab kindergarten teachers in Israel towards multicultural teaching of holidays, within the context of the widening social divisions in Israeli society. Design: The study is based on the interactive acculturation model (Bourhis et al., 1997) and utilizes qualitative research methods such as thematic analysis and content analysis to explore the perspectives of Jewish and Muslim kindergarten teachers. The findings revealed that while both groups emphasized the importance of teaching content relevant to the children's lives, there were differences in their attitudes towards including holidays from the other culture. Originality: This research contributes to the originality of the field by shedding light on the complexities and challenges of integrating multicultural education in a divided society. In addition, the study expands the interactive acculturation model (Bourhis et al., 1997) by adding an examination of oppressive social structures that lead to the failure of the minority to successfully acculturate into the dominant culture.

Homework is a core pedagogical tool used by schools around the world. Yet concern for heavy homework load has been raised regarding stress on students and families and how it may overshadow opportunities for non-academic development. Drawing support from Self-Determination Theory and Hope Theory, an innovative intervention project was designed to create homework-free opportunities for school children to take part in freely chosen self-directed leisure activities. The project was implemented in four primary schools in Hong Kong during the Easter holiday in 2017 and 2018. A mixed-method evaluation was conducted to appraise the experiences of student participants as well as the project's impact on holiday satisfaction, homework attitudes and self-directed outcomes. This study's sample was comprised of 1,425 students enrolled in Primary levels 1 to 6. Participants reported in interviews that engagement in self-chosen, self-directed leisure activities were exciting and appealing. Pre- and post-holiday survey results with control-group comparisons confirmed that students who undertook self-directed leisure activities over a homework-free holiday gained enhanced agency thinking and academic competence while also becoming less inclined to see homework as meeting their immediate learning needs. Implications are also discussed regarding the benefits of self-directed leisure activities as well as school-based homework policies regarding assignment load.

There are a few empirical studies that examine the portrayal of the Middle East and its people in young children's picture books. Many of these books depict Muslim life and celebrations without delving into the specificities of each Middle Eastern country. This study, which focuses on Iran as a non-Arab Muslim majority Middle Eastern country, investigates how Iran and its diverse cultures are represented in children's picture books published in North America. The analysis was conducted on a sample of 27 picture books written in English between 2000 and 2021, targeting children aged three to nine. The findings reveal that a significant number of these books revolve around Nowruz celebrations (the Persian New Year) or ancient Persia, often presented through popular folktales. These findings underscore the need for books that depict the contemporary lives of Iranians, both within and outside the country, through narratives and illustrations.

Promoting science education to all continues to be a key focus for many individuals and organizations. Informal science education settings such as museums have been shown to have a positive influence on student attitudes and interests toward science. Unfortunately, many underrepresented groups do not frequent museums as frequently as other majority groups. Hispanic and Latino-identifying individuals are an example of a group of interest, as their national population growth is not reflected in museum visitor statistics. This paper explores how the Museum of Science in Boston, Massachusetts attempts to engage the Latino community through a Hispanic Heritage Month event. This is explored through the lens of the author, after attending the event. These reflections will capture a "lived experience" that can potentially be used as consideration when planning future events that target the Latino community.

Peronism deployed, especially since the 1950s, a set of devices for the attention and care of children in Argentina, not only through schools but also through other institutions, such as development societies, cooperatives, the Eva Perón Foundation, sports clubs, among others. The new social order was central to the rhetoric of the government, and it gave children a preeminent role, as is visible in the phrase "in the New Argentina the only privileged are the children". This paper focuses on "Vacaciones útiles," a film made in 1948 that shows how educational cinema reflects a view of childhood and also how public policies aimed at it. This short film was part of a larger project called Cine Escuela Argentino, a Commission of the National Council of Education for the production of film material to be shown in schools and other public institutions. What particular view did Peronism have on childhood in it? To what extent can this film be thought of as an educational cinema or as a school cinema? In which ways do films like Vacaciones útiles or public policies like Cine Escuela Argentino show the figure of the State as author?

White Christian supremacy, by definition an intersectional system of oppression, has influenced all aspects of American society since the time before the country's founding, as it was used to justify the stealing of native lands through colonization and the enslavement of African peoples. White Christian supremacist influences persist today, even on public college and university campuses. The author examined current religious holiday accommodation policies at 36 institutions of varied types and geographic locations, finding that most require students to disclose their marginalized religious identities to their (typically Christian) professors in order to receive needed accommodations. In addition, many policies provide no method for appeal if those professors do not approve students' requests, leaving students to make difficult choices between their academic success and identity-based observances - choices that Christian students will likely never have to make. Unfortunately, many studies on college students' religious, secular, and spiritual identities (RSSIs) have not been framed with an understanding of the white Christian supremacist nature of society or college campuses.

This study summarizes employment benefits from across 155 U.S. allopathic medical schools, investigates differences in employment benefits according to institutional characteristics, and explores possible connections between employment benefits and institutional wealth. Employment benefits data were extracted from institutions' websites across four categories: time-off, time-away, retirement contributions, and Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs)/family benefits. This dataset was mixed with other publicly available datasets sourced through the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), the American Council on Education (ACE), and the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) to conduct additional analyses. Nationally, medical schools offered an average of 31 vacation/sick days and 12 paid holidays. Schools typically offered 4 out of 8 time-away benefits. Employers' retirement contributions ranged from 3.0% to 15.5%, with a mean contribution of 8.5%. A total of 43.2% (67 of 155) of medical schools offered a pension. Collectively, private medical schools offered fewer time-away benefits and more EAP/family benefits compared to public schools. Universities with larger endowments per student were associated with a higher number of EAP/family benefits offerings (r = 0.543, p < 0.001). Institutional wealth did not influence other benefits offerings. The quantity/quality of most employment benefits offered at allopathic medical schools were wide-ranging, tended not to vary by region or school control, and were not a function of institutional wealth.

This article is a critical ethnographic study that examines rural Chinese girls' literacy practices in sanctioned and unsanctioned spaces, and their negotiations with the articulated and delivered literacy program. In particular, this study focuses on a group of 1st-grade girls, who I call the "Spy Girls," engaged in the celebration of Christmas, and their interactions with unauthorized literacy practices or "forbidden literacy" that challenge the institutional and structural discourse in relation to gender and school policies. Using a feminist lens, I argue that although local governments have deemed celebrating Christmas to be a compromise of tradition and unpatriotic, the girls' practices exemplified the ways they negotiate gender roles and construct literate identities through appropriating acceptable forms of literacy expression to communicate under the radar.

An English program like English For Holiday (EFH), is concerned with helping children to learn English. In relation to English Education Department of Universitas Ahmad Dahlan, the department has employed an EFH program to help children with English learning during their school break. To accomplish the continuous improvement of the program, it needs research related to it, as these kinds of research provides meaningful data and product, which are important for the improvement of the program's quality. Generally, the ultimate aim of the research is to contribute to the establishment of a better EFH program, especially of English Education Department, Universitas Ahmad Dahlan. Specifically, this research aims to develop syllabus and material for EFH program of EED UAD. This research started in May and was complete in November 2020 at English Education Department of Universitas Ahmad Dahlan (UAD). It utilized Research and Development (R&D) type with ADDIE model initiated by McGriff (2000) which endeavors a development process encompassing five major stages i.e., analyze, design, develop, implement, and evaluation. The research results show that the EFH material is developed to fulfil the children's needs of material for EFH program. The developed product offers an alternative solution to fill the children's needs. Based on the evaluation, it is found out that the developed material is considered very good. Through this material, children participating in EFH program can learn English in an enjoyable way. Although the major target is to improve children's speaking skill, through this material, children can learn and develop their other skills i.e., listening reading and writing as the developed material is written in an integrated way involving all four skills of English.

In the study, it was aimed to determine the opinions of social studies teachers in distance education for specific days and weeks. An explanatory sequential pattern, one of the mixed method designs, was used. The quantitative sample consists of 204 social studies teachers. 112 of the teachers are women and 92 are men. The qualitative study group consists of 14 teachers selected from the quantitative sample. The quantitative data collection tool is the "Opinions of Social Studies Teachers on Benefiting from Specific Days and Weeks in Raising Social Responsibility Awareness." The scale was developed by Yazici, Koca and Dönmez (2017). Qualitative data were collected using a semi-structured interview form developed by the researcher. Data were collected by e-mail. IBM SPSS 24.0 package program was used in the analysis of the data. Qualitative data were analyzed with content analysis. No difference was found in the variables of gender, age and professional seniority of teachers for specific days and weeks. In terms of school type, a difference was found in favor of teachers working in primary schools. It was found that teachers mostly used expression, presentation and question-answer techniques. It was determined that the importance of the day could not be grasped by the students. The attendance to the lessons was low and this was due to digital reasons. Teachers suggested an increase in digital support and sharing platforms.

This article proposes ways to authentically amplify writer's workshop for emergent bilinguals. Through the study of one bilingual teacher's mediation in teaching, we examined the affordances that translanguaging and transmodal practices have for emergent bilingual students' writing processes. In this case study, we focused on a writing sequence associated with the well-known Latin American holiday of the Day of the Dead, in which 3rd grade emergent bilinguals wrote "calaveras," or literary poems, as part of an interdisciplinary language arts and social studies lesson. Our work is framed by sociocultural theories of mediation, literacy, and language. Under a multiliteracies pedagogy, we observed how a bilingual teacher and emergent bilinguals negotiate meaning through a variety of linguistic and multimodal resources. In our interactional analysis of talk, we found how the teacher mediated background knowledge and vocabulary as a part of the writing process; we also identified ways in which her mediation included extensive scaffolding as she provided linguistic and disciplinary knowledge needed to write calaveras. Through integrating the tenets of mediation with biliteracy, multiliteracies, and translanguaging pedagogies, this study offers a promising example of how teachers can build a culturally-sustaining writers' workshop to support emergent bilingual learners' language development and writing practices.

Swedish preschool education is, by law, non-confessional. Yet, it is also an educational context within which most children aged 1-5 encounter traditions that carry Christian connotations. This paper explores how two Swedish preschools maintain a balance between keeping education non-confessional and paying attention to the traditions that are associated with the preparation for and celebration of Christmas -- Advent. The data consist of ten videotaped observations from two preschools. The data was thematised with the help of Ninian Smart's dimensions of religious and secular worldviews. This way, we could show that the different traditions the two preschools were engaged in during the four weeks before Christmas contributed to a banal reproduction of a holiday season with roots in Lutheran Christianity. At the same time, the preschools contributed to a (re)production of traditions that evoke a national imaginery. Our results show that Advent in Swedish preschools is characterised as a non-confessional task for the institution. Thus, the principle of non-confessionality lives side by side with a banal national religion. Thereby, the Swedish preschool plays an integral part in the banal reproduction of a Swedishness that includes Lutheran Christianity.

Halloween provides an opportunity to teach public administration and nonprofit management concepts in a fun way, which increases student retention and understanding. Teaching cases are an evidence-based pedagogical tool that facilitates active learning and brings together perspective-taking, critical thinking, and problem-solving. This article presents five themed mini-teaching cases perfect for Halloween that can be taught individually or together: emotional labor in dark tourism; risk management for nefarious volunteers; cemetery management; financial management through zombie philanthropy; and nonprofit demise. The lessons integrate real-world scenarios with public administration concepts in a timely, fun, and evidence-based delivery method. Each case includes a scholarly interpretation through a public administration or nonprofit management lens, learning objectives, discussion and test questions, and reading and viewing recommendations. These five lessons provide a wide-reaching, foundational application for any public administration and nonprofit management classroom.

In recent years, many Canadian universities have added a Fall Pause to their academic calendars. However, those who have been making these decisions have been doing so without having access to any resources that provide an overview of existing Fall Pause practices or models across the nation. Additionally, there exists a paucity of literature that provides a sound rationale for the introduction of a Fall Pause. This paucity of literature makes research-informed decision making about the introduction of a Fall Pause an especially difficult task. Given these observations, we have undertaken the task of writing this article with two goals in mind: (1) to provide an overview of the current Canadian university landscape with respect to the Fall Pause; and (2) to provide a scoping review of the related emerging literature related to the Fall Pause. With this information made available, it is our hope that university faculty and administrators will be better positioned to make informed decisions about the possible introduction or continued inclusion of a Fall Pause in their own universities' schedules. They, and we, might also then be able to have a better (informed) sense of the research-based outcomes for those who have already introduced and/or experienced a Fall Pause.

Translation has been considered as a cross-cultural act comprising the transference of the cultural signs, rather than only finding the equivalence of linguistic patterns in the target text. As bridge-builders between different cultures, translators assume a very significant role in order to achieve the most appropriate cognitive, cultural, stylistic, and linguistic equivalence in the target system. This role becomes more challenging and problematic when the target audience are children. By emphasizing the difficulties in translating children's literature and the required strategies, the present study examines the Turkish translation of culturally-bound words and expressions in Tolkien's "Letters From Father Christmas." Within the framework of Lawrence Venuti's concepts of domestication and foreignization, and Klingberg's scheme of cultural context adaptation categories, this study analysed the translator's strategies and decisions and discussed whether the translator successfully conveys the same impression in the target audience in a context which is foreign to the Turkish culture and children in particular.

This article assesses the extent to which children's language preference and their home environment matter for literacy retention. Using data from the Complementary Basic Education (CBE) program in Ghana, the authors found that large numbers of disadvantaged students reverted to not even being able to read a single word following school closures over a four-month holiday period. Widening literacy gaps were found for girls who reported they did not receive instruction in a language that they understood or did not have the resources, support, or activities at home to enable them to continue to learn while schools were closed. For boys, widening literacy gaps were only influenced by resources, support, or activities at home, but not by language preferences. The article findings suggest that schools and teachers must pay closer attention to language preference, particularly for girls, in order to ensure that language of instruction is not a barrier to literacy retention. The article also provides further evidence to support the growing claims that home supports are essential for reducing inequities in learning outcomes during school closures.

Voter turnout for school board elections is historically low, with tiny percentages deciding who governs schools. Columnist Jonathan E. Collins proposes a new federal holiday, School Board Election Day, to increase voter turnout and public involvement and interest in public schools. School board elections would be held on the same day nationally, and voters would be encouraged to visit schools not only to vote but to participate in forums and projects to benefit schools.

Nations that have strong connections with their past can reach their objectives more reliable and secure. This can be achieved through culture. Culture is transmitted to new generations mostly by education. Educational institutions undertake the role of transmitting culture to new generations, developing and changing the culture of that society. Schools are the most important educational institutions of one's life. Schools use different kinds of materials while carrying on this goal. Textbooks are the most important element of these materials. Aim of this study was to examine Social Sciences' textbooks which are being used in 7th grade classes in public schools; recommended by National Education authorities, in terms of selected cultural values which are determined as: family life, lifestyle, traditions, ceremonies, and holidays. This study was implemented by document analysis which is one of the qualitative studies. This study was based on a descriptive analysis and descriptive study model which investigates cultural objects within specified textbooks in regard to visual and textual respects. After the inspection of 7th grade social sciences textbooks of Ministry of National Education, it can be concluded that some cultural objects were mentioned but these are not enough. Especially for social science course culture should be more emphasized. Social sciences course is not only a history course but also a course that should include culture as well.

Purpose: This article is devoted to the description and comparative analysis of the commemorations of Victory Day in the Great Patriotic War in the practice of Soviet and Russian school education, based on the example of the two regions of Central Russia (Tambov and Lipetsk region). The purpose of the article is to study the features of the transformation of the content and forms of organization of festive events and rituals of the holiday at the level of the school system. Design/Methodology/Approach: The article was prepared on the basis of a wide range of the sources: educational and methodological materials, materials of social networks and school websites, legislative acts and normative documents of school institutions connected with patriotic education, and also qualitative observations of the authors with the support of several visual materials. Findings: The analysis has shown that the activation of the patriotic rhetoric in modern Russia has transformed Victory Day into a central element of the official politics of memory, one of the most important resources of which is the system of school education and upbringing. At the same time, while preserving most of the external attributes and Soviet symbols of the holiday, the commemorative practices and rituals of celebrating Victory Day in the Russian school differ significantly from the Soviet era. This is due both to demographic and political causes, and to the growing influence of local practices of family memory. The performativity, temporal inversion, repressive nature of some events are typical of some commemorations of Victory Day in modern Russian school.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how the socio-political rituals such as national festivals and student pledges have changed in the Turkish Republic primary schools over the last twenty years. Method: The data used to achieve this purpose was collected from four different sources; the applicable legislation, statements of policymakers, teacher organizations and an interview with primary school class teachers. Findings: Developments in politics have affected both the daily life and the celebration of special occasions in primary schools considerably. Abolishing the Student Pledge which took place in 2013 can be regarded as the most important alteration in the everyday life of the school since the foundation of the Turkish Republic. The most significant change in the celebration of special occasions in primary schools was made in 2012, and was ostensibly to free the marking of these festivals from their militaristic framework. However, a knock-on effect of this change appeared to be a waning of enthusiasm for such festivals in general. After the failed coup attempt on 15th July 2016, Turkey announced the 15th July Democracy and National Unity Day. During the first week of the school year, activities are carried out for this day.

Purpose: The article intends to analyse the manner in which banished soldiers are presented in the new history curriculum at schools in Poland as an example of the politics of memory. Design/methodology/approach: The analysis is a case study of the phenomenon of banished soldiers in the Polish public discourse. It includes the following issues: the history of banished soldiers, the core history curriculum after the education reform in Poland, its objectives and goals (with particular emphasis on banished soldiers), the manner of presenting the banished soldiers in educational, public and social environments in Poland today, the impact of new historical politics on the Polish society and democracy. Findings: The manner of presenting the issue of banished soldiers in the core curriculum for teaching history in Polish schools exemplifies the efforts to introduce a new political paradigm into the educational context. The primary purposes of teaching history at schools have become to stir up patriotic emotions and strengthen bonds with the Polish nation. These goals are to be reached by promoting distinguished figures in the country. However, any controversies related to the "heroes" are deliberately ignored, which is especially evident in the case of banished soldiers. Patriotism is identified with a black and white vision of history that emphasizes the good acts of "Poles" and the cruel acts of "others". The simplified vision of history, which expressly ignores controversies and is reluctant to discuss dilemmas, is a real threat to the future of Polish democracy.

Purpose: This study aims to provide information on the main tendencies across the transformation of the official holidays calendar in Ukraine over the last decades and to demonstrate its influence on school celebrations. Also discussed here is the role of these factors in the parallel but sometimes contradictory processes of the students' civic identity formation. Design/Methodology/Approach: The article is based on documentary analysis, an interdisciplinary literature review and an examination of current practices with regard to national holidays in Ukraine. Patriotic rituals are analyzed through examples and evidence of school celebrations of the main calendar dates, including audiovisual materials in different school settings. The authors' observations have been corroborated with evidence from Ukrainian students and teachers as seen in the results of the questionnaire. These reflect their perception and experience of school celebrations. Findings: The results demonstrate that the transformation of the official holidays calendar in Ukraine has had an impact on school commemoration practices. This in turn has become a factor in the formation of students' civic identity. School patriotic rituals reflect a contradiction between the discourses of citizenship, patriotism and national upbringing in an emergent democracy in the continuing context of military conflict.

In recent years there has been an increase in the enrollment of Muslim international students in higher education institutions in China. This research provides a brief overview of the issues that international Muslim students face during their campus life, such as adopting a new culture, lack of understanding from the broader university community, poor cultural or religious-responsive education, lack of accommodation for religious practices, and social isolation. This qualitative study also highlights some information about the unique needs of the Muslim students on campus and identifies areas for improvement. To overcome these issues, specific practical suggestions are given to the university administration, faculty, and staff to meet the needs of Muslim students, not only academically, but also socially and culturally.

The Jewish Passover seder meal is one of the central celebrations for Jews. The commemoration of the Exodus annually celebrated in this ritual meal has attracted the attention of Christians in recent years who seek to replicate the experience of Jesus of Nazareth in his Last Supper in Jerusalem. However, the practice of a "Christian seder" has been criticised on historical, theological and cultural grounds. This paper surveys these criticisms and offers appropriate educational options for Christians who wish to understand and appreciate the Passover seder and its significance for Christian self-understanding.

Culturally responsive teaching is an important approach that can guide all educators in responding to their students' various cultures, needs, interests, religions, languages, abilities, and learning preferences. Doing so helps to create an inclusive environment for all students that views diversity as a strength. PE teachers, like teachers in any other subject area, should be aware of their students' different backgrounds, keep in mind that each student is unique, and make reasonable accommodations when necessary (e.g., students with disabilities, Muslim students who are fasting during Ramadan observance, international students who speak different languages). Unlike classroom teachers, PE teachers may need to make additional accommodations when a student's ability to engage in strenuous physical activity is limited. Ramadan observance is one such case, so this paper presents some tips, activities, and practical recommendations that PE teachers may wish to consider.

The article discusses an artistic event "Emotions Icelandic Awakes" organized by the Reykjavik City Library as part of the national celebrations for Icelandic Language Day. It examines the potential of affording genuine attention to language as a matter of emotional inquiry for the process of intercultural exchange. We reflect on the role of public institutions in providing an inclusive space that facilitates intercultural communication and where agency and language ownership is discursively determined by the participants. We consider inclusive public spaces as places of 'enacting hospitality' and counterspaces that may help to deconstruct the hegemonic position of Icelandic language in contemporary public discourse regarding immigrants in Iceland.

The limited evidence regarding disaster-related environmental education programs for children indicates that these programs can increase disaster resilience and family preparedness activities, and reduce children's fear and anxiety. However, the literature lacks qualitative studies to provide insights into children's experiences of disaster education programs, the programs' influence on citizenship opportunities in disaster risk environments, and follow-ups with children impacted by actual disasters. This paper reports on a pilot study in Victoria, Australia, of the Survive and Thrive program, an environmental education program delivered by the local fire brigade and incorporated into the school curricula for upper primary school children in Anglesea, a coastal town rated as having an extreme risk of bushfires. A mix of longitudinal qualitative methods captured children's experiences and the program's impact on child agency. The results showed that the children enjoyed the Survive and Thrive program and valued the life skills they acquired. The children demonstrated knowledge and skills gained in monitoring environmental risks and bushfire behavior, as well as a more nuanced understanding of the different civic roles of adults and children in responding to a bushfire in different contexts. Faced with the reality of a nearby bushfire during the summer holidays, children demonstrated their capacity for critical thinking and application of their knowledge to support appropriate action.

Lack of cultural awareness and insufficient cultural background knowledge directly obstruct students' learning competence in college English teaching. Therefore, it's of great importance to enhance students' cultural awareness and develop their background knowledge about the target culture. This paper intends to illustrate the influence of cultural background knowledge deficiency on English learning, analyze the possible causes of students' lack of cultural background knowledge, and suggest approaches to enriching students' background knowledge of the target culture.

Purpose: This study examines one "out" gay teacher's participation in the Day of Silence (DoS), an international event highlighting the silencing of LGBTQ people in schools, to illustrate teacher agency in counter-narrative teaching, particularly for countering the typical civic exclusions of LGBTQ people. Design: Civic education and queer theory inform this interpretive qualitative case study based on four semi-structured teacher interviews and document analysis. Findings: When all 150 students chose to participate and nearly all found DoS meaningful, the ritual's possibilities for counter-socialization and civic inclusion deepened, expanding teacher agency and suggesting increased trust and communal concern, particularly for students of color. Though being "out" may often be perceived as a constraint or liability for social educators, this teacher drew on his identity and queer theory as clear assets for crafting effective, experiential counter-socialization learning. Research limitations: District concerns limited data to those collected from the teacher, limiting triangulation efforts. Practical implications: "Out" LGBTQ teachers able to contextualize counter-socialization learning with their own experiences of civic exclusion may have particular assets for social education. DoS and queer theory may offer useful tools for non-LGBTQ educators, especially when multiple or intersectional meanings are validated.

This study pilots a survey tool for assessing participant experiences in the MLK Day of Service at a public university. Student, faculty, staff, community volunteer, and community partner participants (N=344) reflected upon service, learning, and university-community connections as part of a multi-method evaluation process. Quantitative analysis of unidimensional and summed variables found significant variation by instructional site and participant affiliation. Such measures and instruments may clarify the role of Days of Service in advancing institutional service-learning goals.

Today's society is facing new challenges and opportunities that demand professional profiles specialized in problem solving, with the ability to innovate and exploit the possibilities offered by information and communication technologies (ICTs). Far from being a novelty, the term STEM was coined in the mid-1990s. From then until now, there are a multitude of initiatives focusing on working STEM education with students. In recent years, the use of the arts as an enhancer of the educational experience has been incorporated into STEM education. There has also been a focus on involving the student in the educational process. Despite this, few experiences have been detected in which parents are involved in the educational process. Throughout this work, it is shown the pilot experience which has been developed to motivate parents to be part of the learning process in science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics (STEAM) subjects.

Purpose: This article introduces the history and development of Turkish national holidays. It also describes how these holidays being celebrated overtime in Turkey. Thus, the purpose of this article is providing fundamental information regarding Turkish national holidays and discussing possible role of these holidays in promoting character and citizenship education in Turkey. Design/Methodology/Approach: The article is created based on literature review, document analysis and qualitative observations of the authors with the support of several audiovisual materials that show the celebrations of these national holidays. In order to provide the fundamental information (history, development, and etc.) regarding to the holidays, relevant literature presented and synthesized. Also relevant official documents (laws, regulations, and orders) analyzed. Finally, observations of the authors based on their experiences of these national holidays included in the article with the aid of several audiovisuals materials that provided as hyperlink in the text. Findings: After analyzing all materials described above, we concluded that national holidays in Turkey has some aspects that promote character and citizenship education while these national days may have been lost their spirits and passions comparing their early years.

This article examines the nature of school days and school years in later medieval Western Europe and considers the societal functions of the temporal cultures that emerged. The forms of the school day and year in elementary and grammar schools--alongside school-and youth-centered festivals--were replete with meaning and possessed utility beyond simple responses to environmental factors such as seasonal and meteorological changes. School authorities--whether ecclesiastical or municipal--saw the temporal cultures of medieval schools as a means to socialize children and to create and maintain collective community identities. By exploring a range of different traditions and regional variations, it is clear that the experience of the passage of time was imbued with meaning and social significance for medieval schoolchildren and their communities.

Purpose: Despite an ever-diversifying student population, it is still commonplace for US public schools to present Christmas concerts. These concerts can force minority students to choose between their own religious convictions and school participation. For some students, participation in public-school Christmas concerts can damage their personal identity and assimilate them into ways of being that are not their own. This study aims to test a method for teaching preservice teachers to empathize with minority students. Design/methodology/approach: Using the framework of action research, the study followed a one-group pretest-posttest design. Participants (N = 19), all of whom identified as some kind of Christian, were asked to perform a concert featuring Satanic Worship prayers and a children's Christmas song. This intervention was meant to induce empathy for religious minority students who feel uncomfortable performing Christmas songs because they are antithetical to their own faiths. Participants' perceptions of public-school Christmas music performance was measured before and after the intervention. Findings: The intervention effectively increased empathy for minority students. As a result, participants expressed altered teaching philosophies that were inclusive of religious minority perspectives. Originality/value: This study demonstrates the effectiveness of empathy-fostering interventions as tools for teaching teachers to work with diverse student populations. The intervention tested in this study is of the researcher's original design.

This study examines student religious accommodation policies from 36 universities in the United States. These policies were analyzed for their implications on equity, diversity, and inclusion; manifestations of Christian normativity; inclusiveness of all religious, secular, and spiritual identities; and for any notable patterns. Findings indicated areas of concern within these policies. Many policies required students from marginalized traditions to disclose details of their beliefs and practices to their professors in order to receive accommodation consideration, some policies provided no form of appeals in the case of a denial, and others raised further concerns through their wordings or applications.

As an expression of personal and group identity, recognizing holidays conveys to others what teachers and their school value. Each child constructs a complex identity through experiences with their environment, "including" the holidays observed and valued by their family and broader culture. When a school community represents a child's family culture by intentionally learning about a holiday important to that family, the message of inclusion is clear to all, and the child's universal need for belonging and a sense of significance is amplified. Preparing an environment as a mirror that accurately reflects each child's identity through an equitable holiday lens aligns with the Montessori mission to free the child's potential. In this article Tammy Oesting collected wisdom, stories, and resources on holidays from esteemed colleagues and Montessori guides Seemi Abdullah, Shalisa Agam, Kim Anh Nguy?n Anderson, Lucy Canzoneri-Golden, Tracey Cordero, Britt Hawthorne, Tatenda Blessing Muchiriri, Ashley Speed, and Maati Wafford. Their words illustrate principles for implementing an equitable holiday approach and the manifestation of critical consciousness in action.

According to the Swedish Preschool Curriculum, one of the tasks of the preschool is to pass on a cultural heritage, its values, traditions and history, language and knowledge, from one generation to the next. The formulation indicates that cultural heritage plays an important role in defining the tasks of preschool teachers as far as the transmission of cultural norms is concerned. The aim of the overall study was to explore how Swedish preschool teachers implement and reflect on the task of transmitting a cultural heritage. This paper has its focus on how a particular cultural tradition, Easter, is celebrated in two preschools. The empirical data consists of 227 min video data from two preschools. The video data were analysed through qualitative content analysis with a focus on how different semiotic resources, actions and artefacts are used to perform Easter. The different modes of enacting traditions are used as instruments of socialisation into a cultural heritage as well as means of actualisation of a preschool pedagogy. While preschool teachers can be seen as agents of change who challenge some of the ways of celebrating a tradition, they are also agents of national reproduction. Thus, the teachers both enact the curriculum and build a bricolage of elements, some of which represent continuity, while others represent change.

While many studies examine tools and techniques to improve survey response rates, it remains unclear as to which are effective, and response rates continue to decline. In this study, we examine the effect of four variables expected to influence mail survey response rates: (1) the use of semi-transparent envelopes versus ordinary paper envelopes for delivery, (2) the level of content in the request letter (simple or detailed), (3) the length of the questionnaire, and (4) the survey schedule. We found that the total response rate was 45.4%, while those of the experimental conditions were as follows: (1) semi-transparent versus ordinary paper envelopes, 46.2% versus 44.7%; (2) simple versus detailed request letters, 44.7% versus 46.2%; (3) 4-page versus 8-page questionnaires, 46.0%versus 44.8%; and (4) holiday versus ordinary day, 45.6% versus 45.3%.We found no significant differences in response rates for any of the experimental variables; that is, the logistic regression analysis revealed no relationship between the four experimental conditions and the response rate.

The purpose of this study was to identify prospective teachers' consumption patterns on special days. The sample was comprised of 29 prospective teachers (22 females and 7 males) who studied Primary School Teaching in the Faculty of Education at Sakarya University during the 2014-2015 Academic Year. The study was designed as a phenomenological one, a qualitative research design. The data were collected with a semi-structured interview form, a qualitative data collection instrument. The interview form consisted of two parts. The first one contained questions as to descriptive information about the prospective teachers while the second was intended for the identification of their views on their consumption patterns on special days. The content validity of the questions was examined by three specialists, and they were revised in accordance with their recommendations. In addition, the comprehensibility of the questions was tested by five prospective teachers, and the form was finalized. The data were subject to content analysis. The results showed that the great majority of the prospective teachers (90%) considered Mother's Day, Father's Day, Valentine's Day and birthdays to be special days. Furthermore, 69% of them regarded shopping on special days as meaningful.

Private tuition refers to tutoring offered outside mainstream teaching. The study sought to establish the difference in prevalence for private tuition among parents, teachers and pupils in public primary schools in Machakos County. The study employed descriptive survey design. The target populations were all teachers, parents and pupils of public primary schools in Machakos County. A total of 405 respondents were sampled for the study and comprised of 27 parents, 27 teachers and 351 pupils. Data were collected by use of questionnaires and interview guide. Descriptive as well as inferential statistics were used to analyze data and results presented in tables showing frequency, standard deviations and means. The hypothesis was tested using ANOVA which showed the tuition mean prevalence between groups as 1.457 and within groups as 0.056. The post hoc analysis was done using the Scheffe test and the mean difference between teachers and pupils gave a mean of 0.228 and between pupils and parents gave a mean of 0.260. The findings indicate that private tuition is still being offered despite the government ban and that the main reasons given for engagement in holiday tuition include desire to get high marks, stiff competition for placement into particular secondary schools, inadequate teacher pupil ratio and as a way of earning extra income by teachers. The study recommends that the government remunerates teachers adequately and to have other measures of rewarding performance other than academics. The study also recommends that the government needs to improve infrastructure in all secondary schools to minimize the stiff competition for those schools perceived to be prestigious. In addition, there should be stakeholders' awareness of other ways of engaging pupils constructively during their free time other than in private tuition.