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Designed by the Harvard University Project Zero team, Artful Thinking is basically a program that aims to improve students' awareness of art and increase their critical thinking skills by interpreting works of art and discussing them. In this way, students will acquire twenty-first century skills such as critical thinking and aesthetic understanding. The primary objective of this research was to investigate the impact of the Artful Thinking program on the development of critical thinking skills and attitudes towards art in 6th grade students, by implementing it as action research. This study was conducted in a middle school in Gaziantep, Turkey. 23 students and a Turkish teacher participated in the study. A total of twenty-four works of art (paintings, graffiti and ancient mosaics) were shown to students over eight weeks. Students expressed their opinions about each picture for 10-15 minutes. In order to make the students think in higher-order about art, the teacher asked questions prepared by the researcher. Thus, students were enabled to develop critical and higher order thoughts about the paintings. The findings from the students, teacher, and researcher indicated that the Artful Thinking program had a favorable impact on the students' perceptions of art, and that the students' cognitive abilities and capacity for articulation were enhanced by this program.

This paper uses sensemaking theory and frame analysis to examine how a non-system actor's framing for advancing LGBT inclusion, what they called "code-switching," was taken up. Drawing on qualitative interview data generated as part of a larger mixed-methods study, this article examines the material and ideological affordances and constraints of elementary educators implementing the Inclusive Curriculum Law in Illinois (House Bill 246), a law promoting LGBT representation in history textbooks and curriculum. Findings highlight how the impetus to code-switch created a disconnect between policy and perceived practice, which in turn complicated organizational efforts to transform inclusive instruction. As our analyses illustrate, problem framing--refracted here through a non-system agent--not only shaped the direction of proposed solutions but also played a critical role in coordinating individual action and sensemaking.

Climate change education is both important and challenging. Prior research suggests that many secondary school science teachers in the United States were conveying "mixed messages" to students that legitimized scientifically unwarranted explanations of recent global warming. In this paper, we focus on US climate education at the middle school level and assess whether teacher attention to recent global warming, and whether the messages conveyed to students, changed between 2014 and 2019. Pooling data from two nationally representative probability surveys of middle school science teachers, we show significant advances on several key criteria, but the prevalence of mixed messages remained high. Exploratory analysis suggests that improvements were spurred partly by the adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards by many states and by partly by shifts in the personal views of science educators.

The aim of this study is to examine how middle school mathematics teachers diagnose and attempt to eliminate students' misconceptions in algebra. The study employed a case study method and embedded single-case design. The research was conducted with three mathematics teachers working in different state schools and having different professional experiences, as well as ten students from the eighth-grade classes of the same schools. The data collection instruments used in the study included the Diagnostic Test developed by researchers to identify students with misconceptions, the Assessment Framework prepared for the evaluation of teacher performances in diagnosing and eliminating student misconceptions, and Semi-Structured Interviews conducted between students and teachers, which were recorded and made available in audio/video format. The study revealed that teachers generally resorted to conventional methods in the process of diagnosing and eliminating students' misconceptions. In most cases, teachers superficially addressed students' errors and did not fully focus on students' thinking. Regarding the processes aimed at eliminating student misconceptions, teachers preferred to directly inform students that their answers were incorrect, rather than facilitating students in recognizing their own mistakes. The findings highlight the need to increase teachers' awareness and student knowledge regarding misconceptions in algebra.

This study was an exploration of COVID-19 anxiety and its relationship with teacher burnout. The study was a cross-sectional survey research design with a convenience sample drawn from a population of K-12 public school teachers. A non-parametric statistical test, Kruskal-Wallis, showed a statistically significant difference in teacher burnout across the three grade levels: X[superscript 2] (2, N = 61) = 6.20, p = 0.045. Teacher burnout was lowest amongst elementary school teachers (M = 47.00) when compared to middle school (M = 74.00) and high school teachers (M = 71.00). Implications include a need for increased administrative support and decreased stress levels for teachers.

Art and artistic activities that play a significant role in the lives of both children and adults are an important requirement for all individuals. Cultures develop, expand, and enrich through artistic activities, which are important for the development of visual literacy, especially in social studies. The present study aims to determine the reflection of various artistic branches in the social studies course and the student interest and love that art is considered to evoke in the context of the social studies course. In the study, qualitative research methods and techniques were used to review relevant documents and determine participant views about the role of art in social studies. First, the current Turkish social studies curricula and textbooks were analyzed. Then, an interview form developed by the authors was applied to 80 students attending all grades in a public middle school and 3 teachers employed in these schools in one of the major cities in Turkey. The attributes employed by the teachers and students in the interview form were analyzed with thematic and content analysis. The study findings demonstrated that the curricula and textbook achievements that allow activities in several art branches are limited. However, despite the limitations, the study findings demonstrated that the students were interested in different art branches and evidenced the support of social studies in the development of interest and love for certain learning areas.

The present study aimed to determine the creative story writing skill levels of seventh grade middle school students. The research is a quantitative research and designed in survey design. The sample of the research consisted of a total of 121 seventh grade middle school students who were determined by convenience sampling technique. The research data were obtained by having the students in the sample write creative story texts and evaluating these texts with a rubric developed by the researcher. The collected data were presented as descriptive statistics (frequency, min. and max. values, mean and standard deviation) with the help of statistical software. As a result of the research, the scores of the students' creative story writing skills were generally low and medium level. In addition, in terms of sub-dimensions, except for two sub-dimensions (imagination, form), the students' mean scores were found to be low and medium level.

Attention deficient hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most common childhood neurodevelopment disorder, and severe digital game use has recently shown significant promise in this psychotherapeutic area. Digital serious games have also been used as an innovative teaching and learning approach. This study aimed to explore middle school teachers' perceptions of the use of digital severe games for students with ADHD. The conceptual framework for this study was Sherry's model of game engagement. The two research questions for this basic qualitative study focused on middle school teacher perceptions regarding the benefits and challenges related to the use of digital serious games for students with ADHD. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten middle school teachers from southern U.S. school districts who had used digital serious games for at least one academic school year. Data analysis using emergent codes showed that middle school teachers reported that the social aspect of digital serious games encouraged teamwork and camaraderie while also emotionally building student confidence. Challenges included students being distracted by their peers, anxiety, frustration caused by not understanding the game concepts, and time constraints that influence a student's performance within a game. The results of this study may contribute to positive social change by providing teachers and administrators with the knowledge and leverage they need to understand the benefits and challenges of using serious games when teaching students with ADHD, thereby improving student success through teacher support and professional development.

Recent statistics suggest that student externalizing behaviors are increasing in Western and Asian countries; however, there is a paucity of research on teachers' perspectives of these behaviors in Middle Eastern countries. A mixed-methods research design was used to investigate Kuwaiti public elementary and middle school teachers' perceptions of their classroom behavior management (CBM) experiences, including their (a) academic preparation; (b) use of CBM practices to support students with externalizing behaviors; (c) observations of student externalizing behaviors; and (d) perceptions on administrative support and family involvement. Participants included 2,140 general and special education teachers randomly recruited from 45 schools. Results indicated that fewer than half of the teachers surveyed had prior instruction in CBM, reported using a wide variety of CBM practices in response to student behavior problems, and perceived higher levels of administrative support than family involvement. Implications of the study's findings and suggestions for further research were discussed.

The Atlanta Schools Critical Education Network for Distinction (ASCEND) is an ongoing interdisciplinary coalition supporting the critical consciousness of social justice educators. ASCEND partners include: (1) activist faculty from two university departments: Middle and Secondary Education and African American Studies; (2) a justice-oriented community-based organization; and (3) local public middle school faculty. This paper analyzes ASCEND's impact on deepening urban teachers' awareness of, and attention to, local injustices within their curriculum, and initial application of critical pedagogy. Major findings capture the impact of providing experiential educator learning opportunities outside of schools and the urgency to center community in educator development.

Teachers who know what, how and why to teach are essential for successful student learning. However, many preservice teachers (PSTs) lack teaching experience and the ability to integrate theory and practice. To help bridge this gap, this study employed a learning-by-design project approach in which 22 Korean PSTs developed lesson plans for middle school English classes, constructed virtual classrooms in the metaverse based on their English lesson plans, and conducted microteaching in the virtual classrooms. The study used a qualitative research method and focused on an emic perspective with multiple data sets, including the PSTs' reflection papers and post-interviews as primary data, and their lesson plans, virtual classrooms and recordings of microteaching as secondary data. The results showed that the project supported learning by design, and that it also helped PSTs understand learners and learning, redefine the teacher's role as a designer and facilitator, connect theories to practice and improve their teaching skills. The findings can be used as a reference for future teacher training.

Delve into the transformative journey of teachers and administrators from a rural school district as they bring "Principles to Actions" to life. Pawnee City Public Schools believes effective teaching affects student learning and implemented a successful district-wide plan to improve student learning through the eight Mathematics Teaching Practices outlined in "Principles to Actions: Ensuring Mathematical Success for All." This article delves into the journey of teachers and administrators from a rural Midwest district aiming to grow mathematical proficiency through a joint effort of the Nebraska State Department of Education initiative, The Math Acceleration Project, and the pedagogical practices from "Principles to Actions."

It is known that teacher noticing skills improve through different interventions such as video clubs, lesson study, and short-term professional development programs. However, it is not known whether this improvement is permanent and whether teachers can transfer their noticing skills into the classroom. It is extremely important to provide an enduring change in teacher noticing skills. Rather than short-term programs, implementing long-running professional development programs, which last almost 2 years, enables teachers to maintain their noticing skills. At this point, the current study aims to develop in-service middle school mathematics teachers' professional noticing of students' mathematical thinking on pattern generalization during their involvement in a 2-year online professional development program enriched with collaborative discussion. Accordingly, the study was built on the professional noticing of children's mathematical thinking framework, including three noticing skills: attending, interpreting, and deciding how to respond. Participants comprised 31 in-service middle school mathematics teachers with up to 15 years of professional experience working in public schools in seven different provinces of Türkiye. The teachers participated in the online PDP, including scenarios involving student strategies of particular mathematics content. The analysis of the data gathered from the pre-test and post-test let us conclude that the three noticing skills of the in-service middle school teachers exhibited incredible progress through their involvement in collaborative discussion in a long-running online PDP. Based on this result, the characteristics of the online PDP are put forth to develop teachers' noticing skills.

The development of teacher leadership is closely intertwined with the transformation of teacher roles. However, few studies have investigated how this concept, first developed in North America, is affected by teachers' role identities (RIs) in an Asian context. To this end, this study aimed to examine the effects of teachers' perceived role expectations (PREs) and RIs on their leadership behaviour. The sage teacher, professional teacher and labourer teacher framework was used for analysis, and 498 junior high school teachers in Taiwan participated in a survey. Structural equation modelling and bootstrap analysis were employed to analyse the data. The results showed that teachers' PREs as professional and sage teachers were more significant than for labourer teachers. Their RIs also presented the same pattern. Moreover, although teacher leadership is closely related to the development of teacher professionalism, of the three types of teacher roles, only the PRE and RI of the sage teacher can significantly motivate teachers to lead in direct and indirect ways.

This study focused on the relationships between teacher characteristics and students' mathematics achievement in EU countries, including Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Slovenia, Sweden, and Turkey, which are the only EU countries participated in TIMSS 2015 at the eighth-grade level. The data consisted of the sample of 31,969 eighth-grade students and their teachers (n = 1687) in TIMSS 2015. The "Qualities of Effective Teachers" were used as a conceptual framework for variable selection and 24 teacher characteristics were tested across these EU countries through Hierarchical Linear Modeling technique (HLM). As a result, 17 characteristics suggested as effective by previous researchers were found to have significant relationships with students' mathematics achievement in the pooled sample while there were discrepancies when investigating countries individually. The characteristics found to have non-significant, or negatively-significant relationships as well as the discrepancies in the individual countries raised concerns regarding the implementation of these characteristics in the classroom environments, along with the scope of the study.

Despite the widespread use of school-based universal screening systems for social, emotional, and behavioral risk, limited research has examined discrepancies in ratings provided by teachers and their secondary students. Using the Social, Academic, and Emotional Behavior Risk Screener (SAEBRS; teacher report) and mySAEBRS (student report) scores from a middle school sample, we examined the magnitudes and prevalence of informant discrepancies as well as associated student and teacher factors. Analyses revealed discrepancies consistently in the direction of teachers reporting lower levels of risk than students and were starkest for the Emotional Behavior Risk subscale. Across subscales, multiple student and teacher factors significantly predicted variance in discrepancies. We discuss these findings in the context of implications for selecting screening informants at the secondary level and opportunities to advance practical guidance in this area. Impact Statement: Middle school students and their teachers provide discrepant ratings within universal screenings of students' social, emotional, and behavioral risk. In this sample, students self-reported higher levels of risk than their teachers reported for them. This was especially true for risk in the Emotional Behavior domain and for students and teachers with certain demographic characteristics.

The purpose of this study was to understand how middle school teachers cope with trauma. Case studies were employed with four middle school teachers. The findings from this study illuminated the unique experiences of rural middle school teachers. These findings highlight significant gaps in how teachers are supported and respond to stress and trauma. However, it also highlights the resiliency of educators in response to significant stresses and trauma. The findings suggest that if appropriate steps are taken to address teacher trauma there can be significant improvement in the overall function of the classroom and school.

At Mayfield Middle School, in order to create personalized and more meaningful learning experiences for the students, it was realized that a typical, traditional schedule was not always conducive to the types of learning experiences teachers wanted to create. Teachers had great ideas for projects and practices that would incorporate more critical thinking, communication, and creativity; they also had a vision for interventions that would meet students where they are. But teachers kept running into the same obstacle: time. There were too many transitions that sapped momentum, and students had little to no agency to decide how their days were spent. It was too difficult to carve out space and time to truly intervene with small groups or individual students. As a result, the authors began to reconsider how time should be spent throughout the day. They realized that, at times, it was needed to break free from a "traditional" schedule-one in which students cycle through 45- to 50-minute periods with time allocated for lunch and electives. Instead of always following a traditional schedule, they were challenged to look at time differently--flexibly. Teacher teams have about five hours with students per day. The authors wondered, "How can the time be used it differently?" "How can it be used better?" They began asking questions like, "Do kids need to be in each class for the same amount of time every day?" "Do they need to travel in their predetermined class groupings at all?" "Could teachers work together to give more time to literacy and math skills?" In an effort to answer these questions, teams and teachers were given the agency to restructure the day to best suit their instructional goals. Rather than trying to squeeze their vision into a daily bell schedule, instead the authors made the schedule fit their vision.

Sexual health education is mandatory in South Korea. However, gender equality, and the rights of sexuality and gender-diverse people are contentious issues in Korean society. This study describes school health teachers' experiences delivering sexual health education especially in relation to gender equality and the rights of sexuality and gender minorities. A descriptive approach based on grounded theory methodology was adopted. The participants included 23 elementary, middle, and high school health teachers certified by the Korean Institute for Gender Equality Promotion and Education. One-to-one interviews were conducted with participants. Education authorities, students, other teachers, and parents create challenges for health teachers because of the tension between gender-sensitive and conservative perspectives on sexual health education. Social factors influencing these challenges include patriarchy, cultural misunderstandings regarding sexuality, conflicts between feminism and anti-feminism, heterosexual familism, and homophobia. Teachers' strategies to overcome these challenges include improving personal understanding, skills and attitudes, and asking other teachers and parents for their support. Addressing gender equality and power is the key to improving students' sexual and reproductive health. Educational authorities and civil society should support school health teachers' efforts to advance gender equality and prevent sexuality and gender identity-based discrimination.

Background: The prevalence of mental health challenges among adolescents warrants innovative school-based approaches that support students' mental health literacy (MHL). Purpose: In this qualitative case study, we interrogated the experiences of three eighth-grade English Language Arts (ELA) teachers and two of their school's social support staff as they conceptualized, developed, and delivered a novel MHL unit of study within their existing curricular framework. In doing so, we sought to better understand the experiences of these school professionals to inform future iterations of the unit. Methods: We explicated focus group data to identify themes that emerged regarding participant goals, experiences, and outcomes as they related to unit planning, delivery, and recommendations. Results: Generally, practitioners advocated for increased collaboration with each other to overcome professional apprehension and streamline efforts, a need for such a curriculum to enhance student wellbeing, and having access to more school-provided resources. Discussion: Themes are contextualized within the current landscape of school MHL programming, and suggestions are highlighted to advance this ELA curriculum-based work. Translation to Health Education Practice: Health Educators' expertise can supplement the ELA curriculum with targeted MHL lessons for students, alleviating teacher role confusion and advancing the goals of the unit by providing psychoeducation.

This study examined the learning trajectory of five US humanities teachers when navigating learning to teach the difficult history of school desegregation within a context of a six-month inquiry-based professional development. The research questions were: What do teachers frame as problems when teaching difficult histories? How do they reconceptualize and resolve the problems in a teacher community? The primary data included video recordings of small group discussions, where each teacher contributed lesson ideas for feedback from fellow teachers. Analysis drew from three modes of belonging, in conjunction with four dimensions of historical inquiry. The findings revealed that teachers often identified problems in teaching school desegregation by emphasizing issues related to teaching perspectives. However, through collaborative interactions with their colleagues, they were able to resolve these challenges. This was achieved by clarifying teaching goals, renegotiating the meanings of learning tasks, and selecting appropriate resources.

Effective mathematics education for Latinx students with learning disabilities (LD) necessitates teachers who uphold high academic expectations, facilitate access to rigorous math curricula, and champion inclusive and meaningful student participation. This study delves into teachers' perspectives on instructing Latinx students with LD, including those identified as emergent bilinguals. Interviews were conducted with both general and special education math teachers who instruct Latinx students with LD from 3rd to 8th grades. Key findings from the study revealed a nuanced positioning of Latinx students with LD by teachers: (1) they are perceived as having potential for mathematical competence, (2) they are seen as reliant on external support, and (3) they often internalize a self-view of being less competent in math. Despite these mixed perceptions, teachers highlighted strategies to bolster the learning experience for these students, including promoting active class participation, demystifying complex math concepts, and, occasionally, modifying the curriculum. A recurring theme that was also noted was the occasional underestimation of the mathematical abilities of Latinx students with LD by educators, despite their expressed intention to support their learning journey.

As part of the special issue on Teacher Learning and Organizational Contexts, this paper explores the collective organizational sensemaking processes of middle school science teachers engaged in a design-based research project focused on supporting science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) identity and interest development of middle school youth with the design of a STEM ecosystem. Most of the literature on STEM ecosystems focuses on the pathways available or not for youth to develop robust STEM identities and interests. Research on STEM teachers in STEM ecosystems generally focuses on teachers' roles in brokering youth's experiences across learning settings and not on teacher learning. We fill this gap in the literature through an examination of how teachers came to understand STEM ecosystems as a means for supporting youth interest and learning in STEM and their role as educators within STEM ecosystems that include but extend beyond classroom practice. We used interaction analysis of video and audio data collected over two cycles of professional development to describe how designed activities supported STEM teachers to surface and attend to sources of ambiguity between the two learning environments. Our findings suggest that teachers understood the out-of-school environment vis-à-vis their organizational contexts--such as, how valued outcomes of school, like teaching vocabulary, were being addressed. Over time, teachers came to value out-of-school learning as distinct from their classroom and as a space that is "not school" that provided necessary learning opportunities for students. The teachers recognized the unique ways the out-of-school STEM setting surfaced students' strengths in ways not always afforded by school. Implications for professional learning design for in-service science teachers to work toward providing more cohesive STEM learning experiences for youth are discussed.

This study explores teachers' perspectives on mandala coloring as a therapeutic tool for middle grades students with disruptive behavior disorders (DBDs). Employing an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design, the research first conducted qualitative interviews with ten experienced teachers, followed by teachers' quantitative assessments of 60 students with DBDs. Key findings from teachers' observations revealed that all students favored resistive media; 77% maintained boundaries, 60% colored from the inside out, and 73% used dark colors. Teachers reported that these coloring activities provided insights into students' behavioral patterns and coloring techniques. The study suggests that mandala coloring can serve as both an observational tool and a structured activity for students with DBDs in classroom settings. By bridging art therapy with educational practices, this research offers teachers a novel approach to observing and potentially supporting students with DBDs. The findings highlight the potential of incorporating mandala coloring into classroom practices for managing disruptive behaviors and enhancing emotional regulation. However, further research is needed to explore the effectiveness of integrating such therapeutic art activities into regular classroom routines and its long-term impact on students with DBDs.

Place-based education (PBE) offers teachers a unique opportunity to increase engagement and academic outcomes while strengthening students' connections to their environment and inspiring future conservation. In most instances, classroom teachers must independently choose to implement PBE, such as when discussing topics surrounding wildlife and the environment. Environmental values orientations of teachers may explain teachers' implementation of PBE. Through thematic analysis of phenomenological interviews with 11 middle and high school science teachers in Colorado we identified their environmental value orientations. We found that teachers with predominantly mutualist environmental value orientations were associated with high levels of implementation. Our findings can inform professional development of teachers learning about the relationship between PBE and pro-environmental value ­orientations and behaviors among future generations.

This study explored the status of primary and middle school physical education (PE) teachers' professional knowledge competence (PKC) in the Amhara Region, in Ethiopia. For this, a quantitative research approach was employed and data were collected from 382 randomly selected PE teachers and analysed quantitatively. Findings revealed that the overall PKC of PE was low. Statistically, a significant difference was observed among PE teachers in their content knowledge (CK), pedagogical knowledge (PK), pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), and PKC. Female PE teachers, novice PE teachers, and rural PE teachers were less competent in their CK, PK, and PCK. Besides, unlike in their PK, degree-holder PE teachers have better CK, PCK, and PKC than diploma holders. Accordingly, due care and special intervention need to be given by the education actors in the recruitment, training, and deployment of PE teachers in Ethiopia.

This article examines the formations and tensions of Latinx teacher role model subject positions in spaces with relatively few Latinx teachers. To address the under theorization of space and Latinx teacher subjectivity, I insert a relational space frame to previous literature that critiques neoliberal attempts to place both the blame and solution for racialized educational injustice on the shoulders of individual (student/teacher) Latinx bodies. I use discursive 'moments' to illustrate how and where a certain type of Latinx teacher role model emerges while also extending Singh's idea of corrective representations by accounting for the role relational geographies (spaces) play in producing 'rational/normal,' neoliberal, and racialized subject positions for Latinx teachers. I close with concluding thoughts about space, subjectification, and representation, suggesting that teacher education offers an underutilized area to center the politics of such.

Knowledge of instructional strategies in cotaught K-12 classrooms raises awareness of this unique collaboration for benefitting students with disabilities. The purposes of this qualitative study were to (1) identify pedagogical strategies that facilitate coteaching in inclusive environments and (2) explore the relevance of coteaching teams and administrative support for these partnerships. Interviewing during the coronavirus pandemic involved nine experienced general and special educators (coteachers) from elementary, middle, and secondary schools in Virginia, USA. Practices of inclusive education and leaders' involvement in coteaching were revealed. Coteaching strategies, administrative needs, and tips for future partners were probed in the interviews. Individual partners' communication, responsibilities, tasks, and expectations were other areas of interest. Investigating how coteaching teams instruct and perceive administrative support contributes to the research. Importantly, the relationship of coteaching to leadership is crucial to the viability and effectiveness of instructional collaboration.

Previous research identifies instructional program coherence as a school condition that has positive effects on student performance. This study investigates how instructional program coherence (IPC) operates as a social mechanism that supports teachers' psychological needs. We hypothesized that IPC would be positively related to teacher perceived autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Hypotheses were tested in HLM 7.0. As expected, instructional program coherence had a statistically significant relationship with teacher autonomy and teacher relatedness. Interclass correlations for competence satisfaction did not reveal adequate variation at the school level, suggesting that in this data sample, teacher perceived competence had more to do with individual experiences of teachers rather than school-level differences. Findings in this study suggest that instructional program coherence works by creating conditions that enable teachers to thrive in the classroom, specifically by satisfying their needs for autonomy and relatedness.

In South Korea, the International Baccalaureate (IB) Middle Years Programme (MYP) has been implemented in public education for several years. This article explores the IB MYP's characteristics and educational effects by adopting the grounded theory research approach of Corbin and Strauss (1990, 2015). A total of 27 students from three public middle schools offering the IB MYP in one Korean city participated in interviews. Through the interviews, 151 concepts, 41 sub-categories, and 22 categories were identified. Compared to conventional Korean education, the IB MYP's noticeable traits include student-centered classes, inquiry-based learning, interdisciplinary subjects, writing-centered tests, and an emphasis on the IB learner profile. While these differences may initially pose difficulties for Korean students, they can lead to positive outcomes in the cognitive and affective domains, as well as in interpersonal relationships. Based on the findings, it is recommended that the Korean provincial government should develop a long-term vision both nationally and internationally.

This quantitative study examined the dynamics of the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework within mathematics education, centring on the role of Contextual Knowledge (XK). The research, conducted with middle school mathematics teachers in Chongqing, China, employed structural equation modelling (SEM) to explore the relationships between various TPACK components. The study establishes discriminant validity and demonstrates an excellent fit for the SEM model. Notably, it uncovers significant correlations within the TPACK framework, with a special emphasis on the influence of XK. The findings indicate that XK, in conjunction with Pedagogical Knowledge (PK), Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK), and Technological Content Knowledge (TCK), considerably impacts the overall TPACK construct. The research highlights the critical influence of XK on key TPACK components, such as Technological Pedagogical Knowledge (TPK), PCK, and TPACK itself. These results underline the importance of integrating XK in professional development programs focused on TPACK, accentuating its vital role in effectively integrating technology in mathematics education. This study significantly contributes to the academic understanding of TPACK's complex dynamics. It provides essential insights for enhancing technology integration in mathematics education, offering valuable guidance for educational practitioners and policymakers.

In this study, we explore systems thinking maps as a local literacy practice in a systems thinking professional development institute for PreK-8 teachers. Existing literature underscores the necessity of equipping teachers with a robust understanding of systems thinking; this study addresses a call in the research to find ways to do so. Rooted in the principles of systems thinking, professional development, and literacy practices, we analyze how the literacy practice of systems thinking mapping contributed to participant pedagogical reflection and systems thinking theory development. We employed a case study approach, allowing an in-depth investigation of the mapping literacy events within the professional development setting. We collected data throughout the four days of the professional development; the data set included observations and recordings of mapping sessions, reflections on mapping from 29 participants, and photographs of the systems maps created. Our results highlight the potential of systems thinking maps to foster collective understandings of systems thinking, deepen understandings via the co-construction of dynamic texts, and imagine pedagogical possibilities. The literacy practice not only strengthens participants' grasp of systems but also creates a shared space for collaborative learning, flattening hierarchies and engaging teachers as co-learners. The implications extend to disrupting traditional professional structures, emphasizing the centrality of the learner while fostering hope, optimism, and agency. This study contributes valuable insights into literacy practices that promote collaborative learning among teachers, encouraging a shift toward more inclusive and transformative professional development.

Writings related to the meaning and value of music establish that experiences with music influence values and beliefs. The potential impact of this influence highlights the need for sensitivity as teachers orchestrate experiences with musical resources. In a time of increasing division in society, teachers responsibly exercise their influence over student values and beliefs by focusing on respect. Insights from seventh graders reveal three guiding principles related to respect: "Leave others' stuff alone," "Don't put down others' ideas," and "Listen to understand." This article presents these principles and provides three practical examples of how they can help teachers responsibly and respectfully select and implement musical resources to nurture student openness while honoring students' own values and beliefs.

Digital media provide easy access to media content in multiple languages from local, national, and transnational contexts. This accessibility of diverse content enables young people in the migration society to develop multilingual and transnational media repertoires: they have the option to continuously and strategically navigate between different platforms, between different contexts and multiple languages. In this paper, we discuss how multilingualism and transnationalism can be used as key concepts for understanding the cross-media practices of young people and their participation in the migration society. Based on focus groups with young people living in a culturally diverse and socio-economically disadvantaged neighborhood of Bremen, Germany, we discuss how and why young people choose specific media content in a specific language in their daily media practices. Our discussion of the findings then focuses on the question of how media education in the migration society can take the multilingual and transnational media repertoires into account and benefit from it.

From the perspective of historical institutionalism, based on several critical junctures of the past half-century in China, this paper divides over 40-year history of China's teacher certification institution into four stages and elaborates on mechanisms and processes of critical junctures that impact even determine teacher certification institution reforms. The features of China's teacher certification institution are as follows: Its examination system is increasingly perfect; its direct accreditation depends more on graduates' quality rather than major categories; its history is a seesaw effect history between pedagogic and academic orientation of teacher education; teacher certification institution and normal specialty students' quality is the bottom line of teacher workforce performance under the open teacher education system; and the intersection between pedagogic and academic orientation of teacher education leads to the standardization and professionalization of teacher education in all respects.

This multiple case study describes error-reaction patterns (ERPs) in middle school science lessons. Twenty-seven science teachers' reactions to student errors were explored in terms of four aspects of classroom discourse: talk move, discursive purpose, communicative approach, and patterns of interaction. Two hundred ninety-six error-reaction occurrence moments captured from 4089 min of science lessons were analyzed. Nine types of ERPs were extracted around three higher-order categories. "monologic declarative and dialectical." The study presents evidence that the declarative error reactions may be a pre-condition to enacting the dialectical ERPs, and the occurrence of ERPs may be teacher-specific. Educational implications are offered regarding the science teacher's noticing of the ERPs.

Quality partnerships are imperative for successful project implementation. The partnership between project personnel and independent evaluators is often overlooked. In effective partnerships, both the evaluators and the education project management team collectively ensure that educational initiatives are well-planned, executed, and assessed. This collaborative approach fosters a culture of continuous improvement and accountability, ultimately leading to better educational outcomes for English learner students, educators, and the community. This conceptual article highlights eight elements of an effective project management and evaluator partnership: (1) clear communication and collaboration, (2) goal alignment, (3) early planning for evaluation, (4) multi-purpose evaluation activities, (5) shared responsibility, (6) feedback loops, (7) transparency, and (8) evaluation capacity building. The authors present these elements through the design, deployment, analysis, and use of the Better English Learners Instruction and Education in Varied Environments (BELIEVE) classroom observation tool. The tool was collaboratively created and deployed across two National Professional Development grants in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, addressing the need for a tool that could be used in varying learning modes and capture how effectively classroom teachers were teaching academic content and literacy to English learners in elementary and middle schools. The article illustrates how this tool has been used by program personnel to inform the teacher-coach relationship and educate teachers and administrators about best practices, and by the evaluation team to assess the progress of teachers' use of research-based practices to teach English learners.

This study explored a middle school science teacher's curricular sensemaking in interaction with their use of an educative storyline curriculum, aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards, that was intentionally designed for more opportunities for students' scientific sensemaking. Using a phenomenological case study methodology, we examined how the focal teacher perceived and resolved (un)certainties in their understanding that emerged in their interaction with the curriculum (i.e., their curricular sensemaking), and how the teachers' curricular sensemaking impacted opportunities for students' scientific sensemaking. Findings served to expand our notions of how teachers engage in curricular sensemaking, when this sensemaking occurs, and what teachers make sense of as they experience a new, reform-oriented curriculum for the first time. In particular, the focal teacher found two types of (un)certainty to be salient at various time points during his curriculum use: (un)certainty around students' scientific sensemaking through particular science practices and (un)certainty about how to navigate the storyline curriculum using students' ideas to drive learning forward. Cutting across these types of (un)certainty, our findings suggest the need to (1) support teachers in problematizing their own understandings about particular science practices and the extent to which their previous instruction aligns with reform-oriented conceptualizations of those practices, (2) build teachers' capacity to differentiate between various causes of student discomfort and uncertainty so that students' needs and scientific sensemaking goals can be attended to simultaneously, and (3) provide teachers with opportunities to consider how they might use a variety of participation structures to move learning forward while preserving students' rights and responsibilities for the scientific sensemaking.

This study explores how the use of learning analytics (LA) visualizations to eliciting examples tasks (EET) on the topic of functions can shape middle school mathematics teachers' formative assessment (FA) practices. Teachers' practices were examined when provided with LA visualizations, offering them an interactive analysis of their students' work. The findings showed that LA visualizations enhanced teachers' evaluations of their students' work, including challenges and strengths. Two key areas of FA were supported when teachers interacted with LA: designing and implementing classroom discussions and other learning activities and enhancing the quality of feedback. The patterns of use indicated that when teachers were not convinced of the data presented, they used critical thinking and accessed other reports and interactive tools to confirm their impressions.

In recent years, there has been a significant increase in teacher turnover, which poses a notable challenge to improving the quality of education. Individual characteristics such as teacher motivation, self-efficacy, and job satisfaction have been linked to the tendency for turnover. However, the exact connections between these attributes remain somewhat unclear. To address this issue, this study applied the Social Cognitive Career Theory to explore the relationships among teacher motivation, self-efficacy, and job satisfaction in middle school settings. Using data from the 2018 Teaching and Learning International Survey, this study conducted a mediation analysis through structural equation modelling to explore how teacher motivation and self-efficacy impact the job satisfaction of 3,835 middle school teachers in Taiwan. The findings reveal that social utility motivation has a direct, positive influence on two aspects of teacher job satisfaction--the work environment and professional satisfaction--and this influence occurs indirectly through teacher self-efficacy. Conversely, personal utility motivation directly predicts teachers' job satisfaction within their profession. By considering teacher self-efficacy as a mediating factor, this study offers new insights into the intricate relationships between teacher motivation, self-efficacy, and job satisfaction.

Teacher innovation is closely related to the improvement of basic education quality, and the cultivation of innovative talent for the nation. However, few studies have employed the causes of teacher innovation from the perspective of intrinsic motivation. To explore the factors and mechanisms affecting teacher innovation, we surveyed 421 middle school teachers to investigate the mediating roles of organizational identification and work engagement in the relationship between career calling and teacher innovation. The results indicate that career calling has a significantly positive impact on teacher innovation and that both organizational identification and work engagement mediate the effect of career calling on teacher innovation. Moreover, organizational identification and work engagement act as chain mediators in the relationship between career calling and teacher innovation. Therefore, to promote teacher innovation in middle school, it is important to emphasize the sense of calling, organizational identification, and work engagement. Practical implications for how to promote teacher innovation are also discussed.

Reading is regarded as one of the basic learning processes that provides multiple skills and abilities for daily life. The study reported on here arose from evidence of reading comprehension difficulties of middle school students in Colombia, and from reflection on the didactic strategies used for the promotion and teaching of reading. The purpose of this research was to strengthen students' reading comprehension by taking advantage of the benefits of Easy-to-Read in the context of a methodology applied in Universal Design for Learning. The methodology was centred on the critical social paradigm, and the type of research was mixed with a design based on action research. The instruments used included non-participant observation, online questionnaire, standardised testing and a survey. The pedagogical proposal "Easy Reading" was designed and implemented to show progress in the students' reading comprehension skills, meeting the objectives set.

People's lives tend to the outside world, leading to the waning of cultural preservation values due to the ease with which foreign cultural influences enter and threaten the existence of local culture. To avoid the decline of the younger generation's interest in traditional art, it is necessary to carry out an idea of preservation through education, in this case, social studies subjects at school. This study aims to analyze the relationship between traditional art and social studies as a learning resource. The traditional art discussed in this study is panting music which is traditional arts in South Kalimantan. This is done to get a pattern for preserving traditional arts through social studies subjects. The research method used is qualitative. Data collection is done through observation, interviews, and documentation. Informant this research panting music players, and social studies teachers. The various data obtained are then reduced, presented, and then concluded. The researcher triangulated and extended the observations. The study's results confirmed panting music performance activities could be packaged as social studies learning resources. This is done by integrating class VII textbooks on the theme of cultural and ethnic diversity in the Indonesian traditional musical.

Teachers' beliefs can be seen as psychological seeds planted in teachers' minds. Teachers' beliefs about effective inquiry-based teaching impact their intentions, instructional designs, and actions required for inquiry-based lessons. This paper discusses how to help Thai preservice science teachers who engaged in their student-teaching practicum in middle schools transform their beliefs toward inquiry-based science teaching through Lesson Study (LS). The research questions guiding this study include: 1) What critical factor contributes to Thai preservice science teachers' transforming their beliefs toward inquiry-based science teaching? 2) How could LS help Thai preservice science teachers transform their beliefs toward inquiry-based science teaching? and 3) How can LS be integrated into Thai preservice teacher education programs to cultivate preservice science teachers' inquiry-oriented beliefs and experiences in LS? Multiple data sets were collected, including teacher interviews, LS discussion meetings, and reflection forms. The cross-case analysis indicated that although all preservice science teachers developed more inquiry-oriented beliefs through the LS sessions, their progression paths varied among preservice teachers. A nonanxiety-driven facilitation and flexible modifications were found to be essential for making the LS sessions meet each preservice science teacher's idiosyncratic needs so that their belief transformations take place towards inquiry-based teaching as they overcome their fear and anxiety in adopting this approach. This study suggests that this facilitation is vital in unlocking diverse avenues of transformations in preservice science teachers' varying belief systems toward inquiry-driven science teaching.

This study aims to (1) explore the influence of work-family conflict on middle school teachers' happiness and (2) investigate whether the implementation of the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) affects middle school teachers' happiness. A quantitative research approach with a sample size of 242 teachers from public and private middle schools in Yunnan province, China, was used, as determined by the Krejcie and Morgan's (1970) table. The research instruments were two questionnaires: (1) The Work-Family Conflict Scale and (2) the Employee Assistance Program Scale. The results presented that (1) the influence of work-family conflict on middle school teachers' happiness was mean=3.41 and S.D.=1.13. It was the rating of "moderate," (2) implementation of the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) had a moderating effect on middle school teachers' happiness was at the level of mean =3.20 and S.D.=1.10. It was the rating of "moderate" that work-family conflict significantly impacts middle school teachers' happiness, and employee assistance programs significantly moderate middle school teachers' happiness. However, this study's limitations arise from its focus on middle school teachers and the lack of extensive analysis of various EAP dimensions and work-family conflict aspects. Additionally, the findings may not apply to teachers in other educational stages, such as primary schools or universities. Future research could investigate the specific dimensions and implementation items of the EAP for middle school teachers, offering insights into their most pressing needs concerning work, life, and health. Such research would contribute to developing a better working environment and learning atmosphere for teachers and students.