Journal on Efficiency and Responsibility in Education and Science

Technology-Enhanced Thinking Scaffolding in Musical Education

Marius Banut — 2024-12-31

In pedagogical language, “scaffolding” is frequently used to replace the expression “support in learning”. In didactic terms, the practice in the classroom shows that various types of support, such as the teacher, colleagues, and technologies, contribute to more efficient learning. In terms of technologies, the present study aims to test the role of programming as a scaffolding agent in learning music theory by memorizing and understanding musical notation elements. In this sense, a sample of 87 students (N = 87) from an urban environment in Romania carried out programming activities using the Sonic Pi application in the Music and movement classes, implemented through an educational project with 24 lessons designed for integrated music-programming learning. The study results describe the acquisition of knowledge, in terms of recognition of musical notation elements, achieved under the influence of cognitive capacities scaffolded by digital technologies. Better post-test results and homogeneous variances between and within the three classes of the participant's sample confirm the possibility of achieving technology-enhanced thinking scaffolding in musical education. The results of the music-programming integrated learning framework could be translated into a more efficient use of teaching time and an increased flexibility of interactions.

Examining Social Media Addiction as a Predictor of Academic Achievement and Academic Procrastination: A Cohort of Undergraduate Students

Suleyman Avci — 2024-12-31

This study aims to examine the effects of self-control and future time perception on social media addiction and academic procrastination and determine whether social media addiction affects academic achievement through academic procrastination. A total of 559 university students participated. The participants’ most commonly used social media platforms were WhatsApp and Instagram. Path analysis technique was used to analyze the theoretical model. In the theoretical model created to test the 13 hypotheses in the research, future time perception (value, distance, commitment, and speed) and self-control are exogenous variables, social media addiction and academic procrastination are moderating variables, and academic achievement is endogenous variable. According to the research findings, social media addiction is not a significant predictor variable for either academic achievement or academic procrastination. Self-control and speed are significant predictors of both social media addiction and academic procrastination. Commitment predicts social media addiction, and value predicts academic procrastination. On the contrary, value is not a significant predictor of social media addiction, and commitment is not a significant predictor of academic procrastination. Distance is not a significant predictor of social media addiction or academic procrastination.

Empowering Futures: Unveiling the Impact of Career Readiness on Job Seeker and Creator through Self-Efficacy

Dian Rachmawati — 2024-12-31

Factors that represent the tendency to become job creators are proxied to entrepreneurial characteristics. Meanwhile, factors that represent career readiness include digital literacy, entrepreneurial mindset, work skills, and ICT skills. A population of economic education undergraduate students teaching at universities in Indonesia was used, using 455 samples. Later, the data were analyzed using the Structural Equation Model (SEM) with the IBM-SPSS AMOS 26 program. The findings prove that career readiness is not only important for job seekers but also necessary for those who will become job creators. From the hypothesis test, career readiness has a partial influence on the tendency to become a job seeker and job creator among undergraduate economic education students. The positive coefficient indicates that increasing career readiness can significantly increase the propensity to seek and create jobs. This research opens the view that work skills are also needed to make students become job creators. Therefore, this research has essential meaning as a blueprint for educational institutions to incorporate career development into their academic programs.

Data Envelopment Analysis as a Tool for Identifying Reference Schools: A Study in the Context of High School in a Brazilian State

Denilson Junio Marques Soares — 2024-12-31

To ensure compliance with students' educational rights and monitor education systems, many countries have developed indicators that assign statistical value to the quality of education. The Basic Education Development Index (Ideb) is widely used in Brazil as a strategic management tool. This study proposes using Ideb, weighted by contextualized educational measures, to identify schools that excel compared to others with similar characteristics (referred to as reference schools). The study employs the output-oriented Variable Returns to Scale approach of Data Envelopment Analysis, along with the Malmquist Index, to assess changes in outcomes over two editions of the indicator. The findings show that, in 2017, 17 schools operated on the production frontier and had at least one partner of excellence. By 2019, this number increased to 18 out of the 222 schools analyzed. Applying the Malmquist Index further indicated that most schools experienced modest improvements in technical efficiency during the analyzed period, effectively utilizing resources to achieve similar or better outcomes. This study underscores the importance of understanding successful school strategies, providing valuable insights for educational improvements, and facilitating the adoption of effective methods in comparable institutions.

A Cross-sectional Study Analyzing the Integration of the Moving School Concept at Secondary Schools in Germany

Paul Englert — 2024-12-31

Objectives: The increase in physical activity and the reduction of sedentary time can have positive effects on children´s health. The concept of Moving School was developed to reduce students’ sitting time and has evolved in a broadly used concept.
Method: This study aims to analyse the degree of the implementation of the concept at secondary schools and investigate associated factors with the intention of teachers to implement it in practice. 345 physical education teachers were asked by questionnaire about their knowledge of the concept, their attitude towards it, and their assessment of the current situation in everyday school life.
Results: Moving School is well known among physical education teachers. They gain their knowledge mainly through their university studies. Teachers’ expectations in terms of effort and performance, social influence, and, in particular, facilitating conditions are positively associated with the intention to use the concept.
Conclusion: Teachers are aware of and believe in the effectiveness of the concept. The level of implementation in practice does not reflect this. The framework conditions should be adapted and practical examples of implementation should become better known among the teachers in order to facilitate implementing the concept in schools.

Factors Influencing the Mental Health of University Students in the Czech Republic

Kristyna Vltavska — 2024-12-31

The importance of mental health care has increased significantly in recent years. It is being used more by both the younger and older generations. This article focuses on the mental health of university students in the Czech Republic based on the annual reports data and data from the EUROSTUDENT 8 survey. The only official data source comes from the annual reports published by individual universities regarding students with special needs. Students with mental health problems belong to Group F, which includes Other Mental Health Problems. The number of registered students with specific needs grew by 16% on average every year between 2016 and 2022. For Group F, the numbers increased by 23% annually. More detailed data from the international EUROSTUDENT survey tracks university students' social and living conditions. The dataset contains over 10,000 observations. This paper uses binary logistic regression to look for factors that influence the mental health of university students. The results show that female students, students in humanities, students with financial difficulties, and students with some form of impairment have higher chances of mental health problems.

Digital Classroom Innovations: Leveraging Smartphone-Based Application to Stimulate Students Creative Thinking Skills

Sukatiman — 2024-12-31

Enhancing 21st-century skills, such as creative thinking, is crucial and can be stimulated by integrating Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the learning process. Therefore, this research aims to evaluate the effectiveness of an Articulate-based mobile application in helping students improve their creative thinking skills. The quantitative research method uses quasi-experimental models and a one-group pre-post-test design. The research involved 60 students as subjects, divided equally into two groups: the experimental and control groups. The research data was collected through tests of creative thinking skills conducted before and after implementing the smartphone-based application. Data analysis is conducted using the t-test technique to compare the test results before and after the intervention and N-Gain to measure the improvement of creative thinking skills. The research results indicate that implementing application media has proven effective and significantly improves students' creative thinking skills. The implications of this research can be used as a reference for the development of technology-integrated education. Moreover, this research contributes to providing elaboration regarding the role of smartphone-based applications as one of the efforts to enhance students' creative thinking skills in the era of digital education.