The purpose of the present study is to explore the prospective teacher’s awareness about Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework in their ongoing teacher education programme. The sample comprised 80 B.Ed. students from two colleges of Jammu division and 20 M.Ed. students from one prominent university of the Jammu division. The investigator employed a self-constructed semi-structured tool as per the objective of the study. The study employed a descriptive exploratory design. The findings revealed that both at UG and PG level, students have individualised knowledge about technology, pedagogy and content but, the least number of students were familiar with this framework. The study included some concrete suggestions and recommendations for meaningful integration of Technology-mediated pedagogy in the ongoing teacher education programme at the regional and national level. The findings of the study help in strengthening the policy formulation for teacher education in the current perspective.

This study aims to determine the self-efficacy of science teachers regarding their content knowledge. The research was conducted using a multiple case study design. Three science teachers working in public schools were selected through purposive sampling. Personal interviews were used to collect the data for the study. The results showed that science teachers’ self-efficacy in physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, earth sciences, scientific process skills and science-technology-society-environment (STSE) are different. The area where science teachers are weakest in terms of their content knowledge self-efficacy is STSE. Although sustainable development, socio-scientific issues, science and career awareness sub-dimensions in the STSE have taken place in the curriculum, the teachers were not aware of these dimensions. Based on the results, the researchers recommend that in-service training courses be organised to increase the self-efficacy of science teachers on content knowledge.

This study aims to investigate the role of instructional scaffolding in developing problem-solving skills in melodic improvisation among beginner piano students. Three action research cycles were implemented to identify the effectiveness of scaffolding instructions. The process of measuring students’ problem-solving skills in improvisation is audio-recorded and further transcribed onto music scores in the third action research cycle for data analysis. The findings showed a positive development and improvement in the students’ problem-solving skills and filled the knowledge void for music teachers to plan and teach music improvisation progressively. These findings were helpful for music teachers to implement future musical tasks in creative activities.

This study examined the effects of inquiry-based biology laboratory applications on pre-service biology teachers’ scientific process skills, attitudes, self-efficacy, and self-confidence in the laboratory. In this context, many related tests and scales were applied to first-year students of biology education (N=25). The research adopted the pre-test and post-test control group model. The results showed that laboratory practices based on both the corroborative and the guided inquiry approach increase the scientific process skills of the prospective teachers. Guided inquiry-based laboratory practices have increased the attitudes of pre-service biology teachers toward laboratory lessons. However, self-efficacy and self-confidence of the pre-service teachers taking part in corroborative laboratory practices increased, while guided inquiry methods did not have a significant effect on self-efficacy and self-confidence. The findings of the study highlighted the importance of a guided inquiry approach in the laboratory applications related training of pre-service biology teachers.

This study investigates the need for cognition and trait emotional intelligence of higher secondary students and their relationship to academic achievement. This study also examined the effect of some demographic variables like gender, locale, medium of instruction, order of birth of students on the chosen variables. The study employed a survey method for data collection. The sample comprised 313 (150 boys and 163 girls) higher secondary school students. The Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-short form (TEIQue–SF; Petrides, 2009) and Need for Cognition Scale (Cacioppo et al., 1984) were used for the study. The results revealed that boys and girls are similar in their need for cognition and trait emotional intelligence. Also, girls outperformed boys academically. Results also show that trait emotional intelligence has a significant effect on academic achievement. There is also a statistically significant relationship between the need for cognition and trait emotional intelligence.

The research aims to design a mobile learning environment based on cloud computing applications to enhance the designing and publishing e-content skills of the faculty members of Northern Borders University, Saudi Arabia. The researcher used the semi- experimental approach to measure the impact of the mobile learning environment on the cognitive and performance aspects of the faculties. Two research tools were used in the study: an electronic achievement test to measure the cognitive aspect and an observation sheet to measure the performance aspects of designing and publishing e- content skills of faculty members (N=53). A training programme on mobile learning environment based on cloud computing was conducted to enhance the faculty members’ e-content designing skills. There was a statistically significant difference between the average scores of the members in their pre-and post-study assessment of the cognitive and performance aspects of designing and publishing e-content skills. Following the training programme, the faculty’s achievement scores increased to 84% from 42% in the pre-test; their performance to apply the learned skills in various activities improved to 91% from 43%. Based on the results of the study, it can be recommended that the mobile learning environment based on cloud computing applications is quite helpful in developing the skills of using technology by the faculty members.

The present study aims to find the contribution of self-concept, stress, educational aspirations, parental involvement and guidance needs in predicting the scholastic achievement of secondary school students. The sample for the study comprised 205 students studying in 8th, 9th and 10th classes, selected through random sampling technique. The researchers used Children’s Self Concept Scale (Ahluwalia & Singh, 1986), Student Stress Scale (Akhtar, 2011), Educational Aspiration Test (Khan, 2009), Parental Involvement Scale (Chauhan & Arora, 2009), and a self-constructed Guidance Needs Scale in the study. Findings reveal that self-concept, educational aspirations, and parental involvement have a positive relationship with the scholastic achievement of students and stress and guidance needs have a negative relationship. Multiple linear regression analysis was found significant at 0.01 level of significance. Self-concept, stress, educational aspirations, parental involvement and guidance needs contribute significantly to the variance in the scholastic achievement of the students. Implications of these results for parents, teachers, counsellors and school administrators have been reported in the study.

Writing is a cardinal skill for effective communication practised extensively from primary education, but the students are not exhibiting adequate writing proficiency in their higher education and at their workplace. This experimental study focuses on enhancing the students’ writing skills by promoting metacognitive strategies in the classroom. The participants of this study are 51 pre-final year Diploma students belonging to the Department of Instrumentation and Control Engineering of an autonomous polytechnic institute in Tamil Nadu. The teacher-researcher has facilitated students’ cognizance with metacognitive strategies employed in the writing tasks administered during the course. The results have exhibited improvement apropos of coherence and unity in the students’ writing skill. It implies the indispensable role of metacognitive strategies in developing the capacity of the learners’ strategic thinking and guiding them to plan, progress, and process their writing into a coherent text.

The study aims to determine the attitudes of high school students toward STEM. During the development of the survey, a pilot study and the main study was conducted. The pilot study was conducted primarily for the collection and statistical analysis of the research data. Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis was carried out for the pilot survey. The statistical results show that the pilot study was reliable and acceptable. The main study was conducted for the comparison and discussion of the research data. The sample of the study comprised 2118 high school students in 12 high schools during the academic year 2018-2019 in Izmir, Turkey. The results showed that the mean score of students’ attitudes on STEM decreased from 9th grade to 12th grade in both the metropolitan and suburban areas of the city. Results for gender differences show that the mean score of male high school students’ attitude towards STEM was higher than the mean score of female high school students in both metropolitan and suburban areas.

In a fast-growing economy like India and having a comparatively young population, education, especially skill-based education, plays an important role. In the last two decades’ emphasis has been placed on this through education policy interventions at all levels of governance. Despite this, the impact is not sufficient. There is a need for the industry to associate with skill development institutions for need-based effective management programmes. This paper attempts to study the students’ perceptions of the skill development programmes and their efficiency in providing better job opportunities. The study shows a significant role of trainers, industry connections and institutes infrastructure in giving better jobs opportunities to the trainees of skill development institutes.