Science education is the field concerned with sharing science content and process with individuals not traditionally considered part of the scientific community. The target individuals may be children, college students, or adults within the general public. The field of science education comprises science content, some sociology, and some teaching pedagogy.The standards for science education provide expectations for the development of understanding for students through the entire course of their k-12 education. The traditional subjects included in the standards are physical, life, and earth and space sciencesPrior ideas about how things work are remarkably tenacious and an educator must explicitly address a students’ specific misconceptions if the student is to abandon his misconception in favour of another explanation. Therefore, it is essential that educators know how to learn about student preconceptions and make this a regular part of their planning.In order to become truly literate in an area of science, students must, “(a) have a deep foundation of factual knowledge, (b) understand facts and ideas in the context of a conceptual framework, and (c) organize knowledge in ways that facilitate retrieval and application.”Informal science education is the science teaching and learning that occurs outside of the formal school curriculum in places such as museums, the media and community-based programs. The National Science Teachers Association has created a position statement on Informal Science Education to define and encourage science learning in many contexts and throughout the lifespan. Research in informal science education is funded in the United States by the National Science Foundation.

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gillberk

OPINION LEADER

About Author

The Roosevelt Elementary School District, located in the Phoenix Schools area on the south side of the city, is in serious trouble. The primarily low-income district has been dealing with turmoil for years, and the possible takeover by the Arizona Department of Education only exacerbates the situation.

Last December, Arizona Department of Education held a meeting in one of Roosevelt’s school gyms to present the situation to all concerned. Over 200 parents, teachers and other community members were present as Arizona Schools Chief Tom Horne, flanked by 25 of his top staff members, laid out the Phoenix schools Roosevelt district’s problems. Five members of the Phoenix schools Roosevelt district board were present.

Horne, a Harvard-trained lawyer, did not mince his words as he presented slide after slide and graph after graph that illustrated the large negative numbers that concerned this Phoenix schools district. Many in attendance were visibly stunned by the enormity of the situation with which they and the district are faced.

One point that Horne hammered home to the five Phoenix schools’ Roosevelt district board members present, as well as the audience, was that other school districts were doing much better with similar resources. Three neighboring Phoenix schools’ districts have just as many impoverished families as the Roosevelt district. They have just as many students with English as a second language, who need the extra time, resources and coursework to learn English in order to succeed in the Phoenix schools. Yet, these three Phoenix schools’ districts have between 64 and 78 percent of their students performing at grade level in math for the third grade, with Roosevelt at 45 percent; and 62 and 72 percent in reading, with Roosevelt at 34 percent. The same is true in the other score measurements. In all 27 separate measurements, Roosevelt is substantially below the other three comparable Phoenix schools’ districts. That is nearly double the number of students showing academic achievement, as compared to Roosevelt. (You may view Horne’s graphs at: http://www.ade.az.gov/administration/superintendent/articles/RooseveltDistrictSpeech.pdf.)

What really hit home for the people in attendance is that Roosevelt receives per student funding above the state average, yet no other district in the state has performed so poorly. In 2005, the Arizona Department of Education ranked 10 of the Roosevelt schools as “underperforming”. The district has only 21 schools. This was an unprecedented amount of “underperforming” schools in the Phoenix schools area.

Things must improve rapidly for the Phoenix schools’ district. Otherwise, the state will take over the district and all its schools. Horne is applying pressure to overhaul the district’s practices and replace ineffective personnel. Meanwhile, Horne has called for legislation to allow the state to take over entire districts and school boards for poor student performance.

The Roosevelt district has taken the threat of takeover by Horne to heart. This year, they have initiated many major changes, including:

• New and innovative practices;

• District educators are working together to develop a guaranteed and viable curriculum;

• Teachers at all levels are involved in curriculum mapping, which helps a teacher understand what standards to teach students and when to teach them;

• A standards-based progress report now replaces the number grade reporting system, helping teachers and parents understand the language of standards and create a consistency between district reports and the results of the statewide test; and

• A comprehensive curriculum guide was developed and implemented that includes standards and a curriculum pacing calendar.

Only time (and a very short time, at that) will tell if these changes will be enough to elevate the Phoenix schools’ Roosevelt district’s underperforming schools. If not, then the district will be under new management — the state.

About Author

Patricia Hawke

Patricia Hawke is a staff writer for Schools K-12, providing free, in-depth reports on all U.S. public and private K-12 schools. For more information on Phoenix schools visit http://www.schoolsk-12.com/Arizona/Phoenix/index.html

NEED AND CONTEXT

It has been observed that due to growing globalization commercialization and coy modification of essential requirements of life the young people in the age group of 10 to18 in the south East Asian countries. It especially in the countries like India and Thailand are facing worst problems of negligence and lack of awareness. Because of poverty and ignorance, children are becoming more prone to physical and psychological disorders “children growing up in chronic poverty. There are more likely than other children to experience physical impairments (e.g., low birth weight or “stunting”), cognitive delays and lower IQ, diminished school achievement and higher dropout rates, heightened risk of delinquency, and a greater likelihood of unintended teenage childbearing. The literature on adolescent development is both voluminous and troubling” quoted by (Amato & Booth, 1997 & J. Brian Brown, & Daniel T. Lichter, 2005). Moreover, many of them physically stunted, suffer psychologically from undue family pressures and abuses and are neglected at home, hence, “parenting factors have consistently been related to problematic adolescent behavior too” reported by (Frick, Christian, & Wootton, 1999; Rose, Glaser, Calhoun, & Bates, 2004).

Thus, as they tend to develop low self-esteem from poor families, broken families, and single-headed households, as a result by (Bianchi, 1999; Lichter, 1997), “that, a large share of young adults grew up in single-parent families, with step-parents, or with other co-residential adults”. Moreover, they live in slums and squatter communities, sub-human conditions. Some of there are susceptible to crime syndicates and gang conflicts, substance/drug abuse, and gambling, that is should given the importance of educational adjustment is widely considered an important goal, these experiences have often been linked to problematic adolescent development and a variety of negative adult outcomes”, (Duncan & Brooks-Gunn, 1999 and Guo & Harris, 2000).

Hence, a large number of young adolescents are showing the symptoms of physical and psychological deviation. Such adolescents who profess difficulties in educational and cultural adjustment are at a disadvantaged status and experience school adjustment problems. The individual experiences an upsurge of psychological changes, emotional upheavals and behavioral deviations. It has been reported, Levels of academic achievement during adolescence and educational attainment later in life are strong predictors of a variety of indicators of well-being in adulthood. Including, but not limited to, indicators of economic functioning such as socioeconomic status and income and for instance, adolescents who achieve academically are more likely to graduate from high school and to attend college. Further, academic and cognitive achievement, as indicated by test scores, is predictive of adult wages. Higher educated people are found to be healthier and report to have higher levels of socio-emotional well-being, family-level outcomes, such as marital disruption, and outcomes of children, such as academic and cognitive skills, are predicted by the level of education completed by individuals, (Blau and Kahn, 2000; Zakia Redd, Jennifer Brooks, Ayelish M. McGarvey, 2001).

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The study was conducted with the objective of investigating the extent of educational adjustment and problems associated with achievement of disadvantaged adolescents in India and Thailand. The purpose of the study was to identify the educational needs of disadvantaged students in the age group of 13 to 16. A specially designed package of activities was used to discover the impact of intervention on educational adjustment of the selected sample of disadvantaged students professing difficulties in school related activities.

METHODOLOGY

Sampling

The sample of the study consisted of 125 (68 boys and 57 girls) disadvantaged students from India and 125 (70 boys and 55 girls) from (Northernhenni of Teresa, Winag Pa Pow, Chiang Rai province and Yong People Develop, Doi Sa Kuat, Chiang Mai province.

The sample populations were drawn based on achievement scores on knowledge test. The selected students were subjected to an experimental design consisted of an intervention programme followed by guidance. The facilitators were selected and received training in identifying adjustment problems and arrange suitable programmes.

Design:

Questionnaires were administrated to the sample population to collect data on educational adjustment problems test. There were two groups of learner: both the groups were given Pre-Test as well as Post-Test, where experimental group were given intervention programme and control group was not be given any intervention programme. The intervention programme were conducted in two states: ten administrators conducted face-to-face interviews with disadvantaged adolescent in India and three administrators in Thailand by post in control group were as followed second state:

In India: A group of facilitators were called to develop rapport with the Indian disadvantaged adolescents from there house at Chennai Himmat Slum area in Jammu, (Jammu & Kashmir State, India). In addition, collect necessary data on educational adjustment by administering the selected tools meeting at the same time for data collected were an adjustment of the questionnaires in each of groups by Hindi (mother tongue of the respondent).

In Thailand: The questionnaires in Thai (mother tongue of the respondent) were administered to the Thai disadvantaged adolescents of two orphanages from Teresa Anusorn Foundation (Ban Teresa), and the investigator collected from Yong People Develop, and later the questionnaires.

Experimental group by intervention / Treatment Programme

Experts: all the facilitators who were willing to participate in the study were invited for receiving community sensitization, booklet distribution, and CD training;

Experimental group: 200 disadvantaged students who scored below averae scores in the knowledge test studies had got least scores were given one day training programme on intervention or treatment as follows: in the morning: the orientation and participants programme concentrated on basic issues such as: general framework of adolescent growth, and consisted of discussions and demonstrations. The training programme ncluded the activities so as to develop the psychological and social maturity and in-censoring self direction. The individual experiences an upsurge of psychological changes, emotional upheavals and behavioral conditions. The revised questionnaires were administered to the experimental group as to find out the effect of interventio

Analysis

The completed questionnaires were collated and entered into the computer. The data was entered and analyzed using SPSS. After verification and reduction of data, descriptive frequencies were completed. This was followed by uni-variate and multi-variety procedures to assess the impact of the interventions and to identify other predictors of change in the psychological and social maturity and in-censoring self direction. The individual experiences an upsurge of psychological changes, emotional upheavals and behavioral conduction. Analysis was stratified by sex shown how responded to the variables of psychological changes, differ boys, girls, age, and education. Descriptive statistics was used to profile the study population. The psychological changes were then used to explore the demographic variables associated with education adjustment. Following statistical techniques were applied in the present project: Paired Samples “T”-test and “F”-test.

FINDINGS

The profiles of the 250 Northern Indian and Thai respondent questionnaires are analyzed to find out the relationship between demographic characteristics of the sample population. It was found that Thai boys (56%) have scored more than Indian boys (54.40%) and Indian girls (45.60%) more than Thai girls (44%) have. In the same age group of 15 years old, and the same of Standard: 9 (India) and Thai from the secondary school (Grades 3), is shown in Table 1.

A significant difference between boys and girls in control group was reported after pretest in Indian adolescents. There was no significant difference in the pre and post-test scores of Indian and Thai in educational adjustment. Commonality in educational adjustment of both Indian and Thai groups was reported. Implications of the study for the awareness programmes were suggested, are shown in Table 2-9.

DISCUSSION

In many Northern states of India and Thailand, the educational adjustment and problems associated with achievement of Indian and Thai disadvantaged adolescents. There were neglect and need to improved the adjustment with understand by themselves, family, friends, and other people in there community and social, that, were suggested as; (1) both of them need become a good boys and girls, can thinks and can doing and can solve there problems in there future well-being of them. (2) There need to develop and include the adjustments education programme in the schools curriculums to improve them become a friendly relations to other people around of them. (3) Need to adjustment of developed, good attitude by themselves and other to being a good life in the future.

TABLE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I thank to Dr. Y. N. Sridhar, Guide of Research for me. I would like too many helpful and thank the following students, Mr. Kasame Sakonllapap, Mr. Santi Jongkongka, Mr. Prasarn Ruansang and people for their supported. I thankfulness to Father Carlo Luzzi, Mother Elisa Cavana, Father Niphot Thiengwiharn and my family, for contributing to this study by providing funding.

REFERENCE

1. Amato P., & Booth. A generation at risk: Growing up in an era of family upheaval, (dissertation). Cambridge Harvard Univ.; Press. 1997.

2. Blau F. & Kahn L. Do cognitive test scores explain U.S. wage inequality?, (dissertation) NBER Working Paper No: 8210. Cambridge Harvard Univ.; National Bureau of Economic Research. 2000.

3. Bianchi S. M. Feminization and Juvenilization of poverty: trends, relative risks, causes, and consequences, (dissertation). Department of Sociology, Univ.; Maryland, Annual Review of Sociology, Vol.35, p: 307-333. 1999.

4. Children’s Forum. Street Children, the Indian Child: A profile 2002. Available from: URL: http://www.indianngos.com/issue/child/

government/streetchild/childprofile.htm

5. Duncan G. J. & Brooks-Gunn J. Consequences of Growing Up Poor. 1999 New York: Russell Sage Foundation, September, ISBN-10: 0871541440.

6. Education in Thailand. Number of Disadvantaged Students in OBEC Schools by Type and Gender: Academic Years 2002- 2003. Office of the National Education Commission Education in Thailand, Bangkok: Amarin Printing and Publishing, Ministry of Education. 2004 National ISBN 974-241-733-4, p.20-34.

7. Dilok Sritong. The disadvantaged children in Jammu. 30 March 2007. (Not copyright).

8. Father Carlo Luzzi. The Hill Tribes Disadvantaged in Northern, Thailand. 9 October 2007. (Not copyright).

9. Father Komkrit Anamnat. The disadvantaged students in Nuchanat Ansorn School. Available from: URL: http://www.nuchanat.com/nuchanat.com/ documents/ management%20structure.htm

10. Father Niphot Thiengwiharn. Yong People Development. Doi Sa Kuat, Chaing Mai, Thailand. 10 December 2006. (Not copyright).

11. Foundation for the Better Life of Children (FBLC). Available from: URL: http://www.citizenbase.org/crtools/helement.html

12. Frick, P. J., Christian, R. E. & Wootton, J. M. Age trends in association between parenting practices and conduct problems: Behavior Modification. 1999 Vol.23, No.1, p: 106-128.

13. Guo, G., & Harris, K.M. The mechanisms mediating the effects of poverty on children’s intellectual development: Demography, 37, Population Association of America. 2000 November, p: 431-447.

14. International Labour Organization (ILO) ILO Convention No. 182 Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention. 1999. Available from: URL: http:// www. ilo.org/

public/english/standards/ipec/ratification/convention/text.htm

15. J. Brian Brown & Daniel T. Lichter, Childhood Disadvantage Adolescent Development and Pro-Social Behavior in Early Adulthood. 2005. Advances in Life course research. (Copyright).

16. Kasame Sakonllapap. Yong People in Bangkok, Thailand. 9 November 2006. (Not copyright).

17. Lichter D. T. Poverty and inequality among children, (dissertation). Department of Sociology, Pennsylvania State Univ.; 601 Oswald Tower, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, Annual Review of Sociology, Vol.23, 1997 August, p:121-145.

18. Maha Chakri Sirindhon, H.R.H. Princess. Education of the Disadvantaged: a lecture, the 15th Annual Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Day, (Prasarnmit branch), Bangkok, Thailand, Srinakarinwirot Univ.; 2001 November 12, p: 7-29

19. Mother Elisa Cavana. The Hill Tribes Disadvantaged in Northern, Thailand from Teresa Anusorn Foundation (Ban Teresa), Winag Pa Pow, Chaing Rai. 20-30 October 2006. (Not copyright).

20. Prasarn Ruansang. The disadvantaged children in Channai Himmat, Slum area (Jammu), Jammu & Kashmir State, India. 19 February 2007. (Not copyright).

21. Rose C. C., Glaser, B.A. Calhoun, G.B. & Bates J. M. Assessing the parents of juvenile offenders: A preliminary validation study of the juvenile offender parent questionnaire: Child and Family Behavior Therapy. 2004. Vol.26, January, p: 25-43.

22. UNICEF House. Working Children’s Report. 3 UN Plaza, New York, NY 10017. 2004 ISBN: 92-806-3817-3, p: 2. (Copyright).

23. UNICEP. A child-rights approach on international migration and child trafficking: A UNICEP perspective. 2004. Available from: URL: http://www.un/org/esa/

population/meetings/ thirdcoord2004/P06_UNICEF.pdf -

24. UNESCO. Education and Training strategies for Disadvantaged group in Thailand. 2001. December, International Institute for Educational Planning, p: 55-70. (Copyright).

25. Santi Jongkongka. The disadvantaged children in Jammu. 29 March 2007. (Not copyright).

26. Teacher Chantana Rangsome. Street Children at Khon Khen, Thailand. 5 December 2006. (Not copyright).

27. Zakia Redd, Jennifer Brooks, Ayelish M. McGarvey. Background for Community Level Work on Educational Adjustment in Adolescence: Reviewing the Literature on Contributing Factors. Trends Child. 2001 December, p: 5.

28. Y. N. Sridhar. The disadvantaged children in India. 29 July 2007. (Not copyright).

About Author

Chiwarat Dudsanee

Quality assurance refers to a system of maintaining standards in relation to required standards. The need for quality control in higher education arises on account of the following:

• ever increasing number of students
• increasing competition due to privatization
• access to education through internet
• limited resources
• inadequate involvement of students in teaching-learning
• lack of systematic internal monitoring and review procedure
• lack of good faculty
• Lack of generic skills of decision making, problem solving, creativity, independence, adaptability, learning to learn, etc. among students.
• Increasing cost of education
• Ingredients of Quality

Some of the specific criteria used to assess quality are:

• Quality of curriculum design and content
• Quality of instruction and teaching
• Quality of faculty – student relationship
• Quality of learning facility
• Quality of infrastructure
• Quality of innovation

Improving quality of courses, material input, instructional processes, resources, management processes and structures as well as student support services, output and linkages with world of work and other organizations are necessary.

Some of the important components are:

• Encouraging multidisciplinary and skill oriented learning.
• Restructuring of courses
• Revamping the contents
• Emphasizing skill development
• Promoting employability.

With regard to course content is there a mechanism to review it regularly, update it and check its relevance constantly? What are the specially designed learning activities? Is restructuring possible? If so does it take place? Is there clarity on course objectives?

With regard to teaching/ learning, are there opportunities for facilitated student – faculty interaction? Is there a mechanism for constructive and timely feedback? Is the use of newer techniques promoted?

With regard to course structure, is there clarity on course objectives? Do the students and teachers have access to library and internet? Are seminars and assignments part of the curriculum structure? Do the students receive handouts, study materials, etc? Do the teachers use transparencies and other modern modes of communication?

With regard to evaluation, do the students receive the answer scripts? Are the teachers open to incorporate different methods of evaluation? Are the teachers prepared to receive feed back from students and peers? Are quality teachers recruited? What is the quality of the non-teaching staff? What is the perception of the public? Is there a social audit? What do the press and alumni say? Are merit, creativity and excellence recognized and encouraged?

In a nutshell, identifying customer needs, specifying quality standards, benchmarking, analyzing existing system, planning for improvement, implementation of improvement plans, monitoring and evaluation and modification of plans as and when needed are the hallmarks of quality assurance.

About Author

DR.R.SRINIVASAN

Dr.R.SRINIVASAN is a Post graduate in commerce and Management. He received his doctoral degree from Alagappa University in 1997. He currently teaches financial management and Research Methodology Subjects in Post graduate and Research Department of Corporate Secretaryship at Bharathidasan Government College for Women (Autonomous), Pondicherry University, Puducherry. Before Joining BGCW, he was teaching in SNR College, Coimbatore, Sindhi college, Chennai& T.S.Narayanasamy College, Chennai for eight years. He was with the industry for a short term at Salzar Electronics Pvt. Ltd, Coimbatore. He has about 20 years of teaching experience and having research experience of 15 years. His interests are in Accounting and finance, Capital Market, Quantitative Methods. He underwent the Faculty Development Programme at Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad during 2000-01. He has presented 20 papers in national and international conferences and has published twenty papers in the areas of Finance and Human resource Management in National Journals. Co-authored a book titled, ‘Investors Protection, published by Raj Publications, New Delhi He has delivered lectures in contemporary finance topics at Pondicherry University. He is involved in consultancy projects for Godrej Saralee, Chennai in the areas of Statistical Applications. He has supervised a number of research projects in the area of corporate finance and Human Resource Management. He is the Board of examiner in corporate Secretaryship and Management for the past two decades.
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Posters can also be used as educational materials for children. Colorful and attractive poster prints are bought by parents to aid their children in learning new things. Furthermore, it is said that children learns more from viewing a colorful visual aid, rather than reading plain texts. With this, ordering for educational poster prints is essential for parents to guide and teach their kids in the most creative way. Parents will just have to consider the quantity, poster size, design and content of the poster prints.

• Quantity – Parents can print educational posters through digital printing. They can seek for a reliable printing partner to produce prints in a quantity, ranging from 1 to 50. Parents can decide to print 1 educational poster for each subject including Math, English, Science, and History.

• Size – An educational material can be printed in a standard poster size like 16” x 20”. Other sizes include 18” x 24”, 20” x 30”, 22” x 28”, 24” x 36” and 27” x 40”. Parents can opt to print large or small sized posters, aimed for a specific purpose.

• Design – Educational posters must have attractive colors, images and texts to attract children. These printed materials can provide the complete set of counting numbers, alphabets, multiplication table, color chart, most common animals, national flags, solar system, shapes and parts of the body. These poster prints can provide information for certain subjects like Math, English, History and Science.

The texts on the printed materials must be in funny and playful styles to attract the children. More often, the font size of the words written on the educational posters is large, so that children can easily read the texts.

Considering the size, quantity and design will enable parents to buy and order for educational poster prints. Through the use of these printed materials, children will enjoy and learn about a specific subject.

About Author

Kat Nocom

Kat Nocom is a Content Writer, with 1 year of experience as a Technical Writer for a Publishing company. Currently, she resides in Los Angeles, California working in the field of writing and marketing.