Issue, No. 23/2022

Abstract The study aims to examine to which extend do university teachers influences the learning effectiveness and academic performance of third-year pedagogy and special education students. The main hypothesis of the experimental paper refers to the increase of learning efficiency and academic performance of students through specific interventions to positive influence student learning. The quantitative study was conducted through a questionnaire, on a sample of 105 participants. The results show that regulatory interventions by teachers have a positive impact on students’ university trail, through them effective learning is stimulated and academic performance is improved. >> Read the article

Abstract The paper analyses how cooperative learning can be used in teaching literature, specifically 19th century Italian literature. It presents the results of group activities carried out in October 2022 by students from the Faculty of Letters of the “Babes-Bolyai” University of Cluj-Napoca, with specialisation in Italian A and B. These are students attending the Italian Literature II course, taught in Italian. The participants returned to university (face-to-face didactic activities) only in the spring of 2022, in the second semester of their first year of study at a university level. They spent more than one year of high school during the Covid-19 pandemic (with online school). After having carried out a cooperative activity in the practical course that focused on the study of Italian literature, in groups of 3-4 students, they were given an anonymous questionnaire to express their views on cooperative learning of foreign languages and literatures. The questionnaire contained 7 questions in which the teacher wanted to check whether the students found cooperative learning more effective than the classical methods of learning foreign languages and literatures in the post-pandemic period and how the cooperative activity stimulated their curiosity for Italian literature, especially for reading the novel studied during the practical course. >> Read the article

Abstract Metacognition is often referred to as "thinking about thinking." It is a regulatory system that helps people understand and control their cognitive performance. Metacognition allows students to take charge of their own learning. It involves awareness of how they learn, an assessment of their learning needs, generating strategies to meet those needs, and then implementing the strategies (Hacker, 2009). Strategic learning represents that type of learning in which the learner consciously participates in the act of learning, is responsible for the learning process, and controls his efforts in the direction of building, using, and promoting particular, specific cognitive strategies, techniques, and tools, gains independence, learns how to learn independently and effectively. >> Read the article

Abstract In their first year of teaching, teachers should develop mental and emotional resilience as they develop their teaching skills, strengthen their resilience, and develop their professional identity alongside social-emotional competencies that can increase teachers' resilience and enhance their personal and professional development. Teachers can be resilient to a certain degree, but this can vary depending on the time, situation, or location where they teach, they also may experience times in their careers when they cannot control some changes, but others may be beyond their control especially due to the recent global pandemic that increased the understanding of the need to strengthen emotional resilience. For this, it's necessary to map and analyse the components that build the emotional resilience of the new teachers in their first year at school. This article presents doctoral research results focusing on mapping primary competencies and needs in the first year of teaching so that teachers can cope with daily challenges. The article emphasizes the importance of these skills. This article presents doctoral research results focusing on mapping primary competencies and needs in the first year of teaching so that teachers can cope with daily challenges. New teachers need to develop SEL and resilience skills in service. The article emphasizes the importance of these skills. Based on the results of a focus group conducted on new teachers at the end of their first year of teaching, we examined the primary needs that affect emotional resilience and wellbeing, which are key for integrating new teachers into the classroom. >> Read the article

Abstract The preschool period becomes a favorable ground for the development of emotional and social skills. We consider that the educational and family environment play an important role in the development of these competencies. Emotional and social skills play an important role in the child's further development. A good ability to understand emotions, self-knowledge, the environment in which and how they occur develops empathy and at the same time allows the preschooler to relate effectively to those around him, to respond appropriately to the emotions of others and to adapt more easily to the social environment. The main purpose of this research refers to the increased efficiency of both the role play and the artistic-plastic activities in the socio-emotional development of preschoolers. By introducing role-playing games in the didactic activity through stories and artistic-plastic activities, educational actions are initiated, the results of which are recorded and processed in order to demonstrate their value. The results of this study showed that the use of artistic and plastic activities as well as role play contributed to managing their own emotions, to understanding the need to respect the feelings and feelings of others, developing the ability to relate to others, improving skills, communication and self-expression in the development of self-confidence, the development of confidence in individual abilities, the development of self-control identifying possible solutions to problems such as anger, disappointment, sadness. >> Read the article

Abstract This study proposes an integrative analysis of the moral intelligence and ethical intelligence concepts in order to understand the chronological and conceptual evolutions of a new type of intelligence, which will later on serve as a base for the operationalisation of the concept. The methodological approach consists in an integrative literature review, which is generally defined as a form of research that reviews, critically analyses and synthesises representative studies on a topic in an integrated way, allowing for the emergence of new frameworks and perspectives. This research examines the literature for a period of 185 years (up to 2021) aiming to develop chronological taxonomies in order to provide an overview of the meanings associated with the concepts of ethical and moral intelligence. The results of the integrative review consist in chronological taxonomies of the concepts, that are complemented by conceptual maps of the ethical / moral intelligence. The conceptual maps emphasise the functional relationships between the constituent elements of ethical / moral intelligence, as well as the applied values in the area of education. >> Read the article

Abstract Visual technologies such as AR (Augmented Reality), VR (Virtual Reality), or MR (Mixed Reality) show an increase in popularity in the educational field. In addition to the fact that they can significantly improve the transfer of information in education, they can turn lessons into more interesting and interactive activities. Among these technologies, AR has become the most accessible, due to the rise in the popularity of mobile devices. The increasing popularity of distance teaching and the increasing performance of mobile devices and applications will make this topic an important one in the future in educational psychology. The current study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of using AR in learning and compare it with classical 3D models. Following the calculations, we discovered a minor influence. This implies that the group of students who used simple 3D outperformed the group of students who used Assemblr AR, but the gap between the 2 learning methods was not very wide. The results indicate that the use of 3D models is effective in learning but there is no significant difference between the AR and normal 3D models. The limited effects and the findings of other studies on AR in education imply that additional research is required. >> Read the article

Abstract The entire work of Clement of Alexandria, but especially the work "The Pedagogue", constitutes a brilliant synthesis of Christian theological and educational thought from the end of the 2nd Christian century, but also a reference document for the subsequent stages of development of pedagogy. For the Alexandrian pedagogue, the value of faith is illustrated by the value of the education he promotes, that is why he puts the Pedagogue at the centre of his ideational approach, as an exemplary model of thought and action. The way he defines the concepts and argues the formative-informative relationship may be surprising today, but hard to dispute. The research conclusions show the fact that the formative-informative report is relevant to the extent that it is supported by the love of the Pedagogue towards those he educates, who does not hate, knows how to be gentle and persuasive even when he disapproves of a certain behavior. >> Read the article

Abstract The identification of the attitudes towards sexuality and sexual education in family settings are starting points for the development of sexual education intervention programs for people with special needs, as well as training parents to convey objective and needs-oriented sexual health education to their children. The purpose of this study is to provide the academic and educational community in Romania with linguistically and psychometrically validated versions of the Romanian and Hungarian translations of the Sexual Attitude Questionnaire for Persons with Disabilities (Porat, 2009). 246 Romanian and Hungarian speaking participants completed the online questionnaire. The results indicate very good psychometric properties of the Romanian and Hungarian translations of the questionnaire, allowing the assessment of attitudes towards the sexuality of people with disabilities in relation to other relevant psychological and social variables. >> Read the article

Abstract Teaching social skills is a challenging process due to the fact that each skill is difficult to motivate and reward and to the sheer number of skills that can be considered social skills and the infinite ways in which changes in the environment affect the perception of each skill. The most important step in the development of the social skills repertoire in children diagnosed with ASD consists in the occurrence of social desire. Therefore, the social environment must be implemented in a way that is attractive to the child. Many social skills are learned automatically in typical ABA/VB programs. Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) seem to lack a desire to search for deeper causal links in their understanding of the world. Instead, they remember predictable routines (for example, brushing their teeth) and processing information at the surface level. This leads to a fragmented and superficial understanding of the environment, although they can remember much about it. Children with ASD face difficulties in achieving social contexts in the sense of other people's behavior, because it relies on understanding their intentions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of a Social Story as an intervention used to reduce maladaptive behavior and to enhance social skills in 3 children diagnosed with ASD. >> Read the article

Abstract The psychotherapist is an important specialist who makes a major contribution to ensuring the mental health of people in today’s society. Unfortunately, however, the psychotherapist is not correctly perceived, or he/she is even unknown to the collective mind, despite the fact that psychotherapy is a valuable resource in today’s social context loaded with a multitude of stressful and traumatic factors. Integrative psychotherapy, one of the newest forms of psychotherapy, responds effectively to the challenges of today’s society in an integrated way, focusing on the relationship between the therapist and the patient. The integrative psychotherapist is the specialist who, through prevention, diagnosis and intervention, guides the person towards the balance that ensures mental health. The research carried out on a panel of students confirms that the image of the psychotherapist is not known or is perceived in a distorted way, even by a public with a certain level of intellectual background. The integrative psychotherapists involved in the research also highlight that psychotherapy is an important resource in enhancing quality of life, but it is little known and not valued. Therefore, there is a need to promote the image of the psychotherapist at the level of the collective mind, the need for an education to promote mental health, an education that focuses not only on physical health but also on mental health, an education that leads to the psycho-physical well-being of the person. >> Read the article

Abstract Teacher shortage is severe around the world and this dearth is also strongly felt in core subjects in Israel, specifically in English and Mathematics. As a result, efforts should be made to guarantee that the majority of pre-service teachers choose to pursue a teaching career upon graduating from their teacher education program. This study investigates the main motives of pre-service EFL teachers to enroll in teacher education and their perceptions about the importance of a set of internal and external factors, namely, self-efficacy, availability of a support system and satisfaction from their teacher education program regarding their decision to pursue a teaching career. In this qualitative study, 24 pre-service EFL teachers in a teacher education college in Israel were interviewed in semi-structured interviews. The results yielded evidence for perceived teaching ability being the most substantial initial motive for choosing a teaching career, and for the significance of the specifically explored internal and external factors in the decision of pre-service EFL teachers to pursue a teaching career. The results and their implications on teacher education are discussed. >> Read the article

Abstract The recent online teaching experience we all were forced into during the pandemic period made us reflect on the existing teaching practices and their efficacy, while imposing on finding new ways, roles and functions for the classical teaching, learning and assessment activity. Academic assessment in particular proved to be a challenge in the sense that new and unexpected isses had to be managed. While the use of digital platforms offered support for new assessment and evaluation strategies, including improved feedback and ways of tracking students’ development, sensitive issues such as that of avoiding exam fraud risks, and the need for improving evaluation validity and authenticity appeared. The present paper offers an insight on university students’ and teachers’ perception on academic assessment, its added value and risks. It also provides some empirical proves for the need of integrating valuable lessons from the online evaluation experience and transfer them in hybrid and onsite academic education process. >> Read the article

Abstract Recent studies have shown that the educational approaches based on the Theory of Multiple Intelligences are efficient and should be applied frequently in the classroom. Through this study, we set out to determine which are the parents' opinions regarding the optimum age to discover the configuration of the profile of intelligence of children and adolescents. Thus, we carried out an online survey. The online questionnaire was filled in by 507 parents. The study revealed that parents are interested to discover the dominant intelligences of their children, in order to choose appropriate extracurricular activities and to identify a suitable career for them. The results obtained indicate a strong desire of parents to understand children's strengths using a digital application based on the content of the Theory of Multiple Intelligences, developed by Howard Gardner. The results of the study are useful for school principals, teachers, and researchers in the educational sciences. >> Read the article