The present study explores the educational needs and challenges of students from the rural area of Cluj County, focusing on middle school students. This research employed a quantitative approach, encompassing a sample of 459 students ranging in age from 11 to 14 years. The survey concentrated on evaluating the present circumstances of the students with regard to educational provisions, their motivation to attend school, and their challenges in their educational process.
The findings indicate a paucity of sports facilities in educational establishments, as well as a scarcity of educational spaces such as libraries or reading rooms. Furthermore, there is a dearth of extracurricular activities, and they expressed a relatively low level of motivation, underlining that their motivation to attend classes is primarily influenced by their colleagues, rather than by the educational process itself. Simultaneously, they highlighted numerous challenges they face in receiving a qualitative education, owing to the scarcity of educational activities.
The primary conclusions of the study concentrate on several points, including the modernisation of educational facilities, such as classrooms, bathrooms, and gyms. Additionally, the study emphasises the necessity of updating textbooks and adopting digital teaching methods to reduce disparities in education between urban and rural areas.
The present study explores university teachers’ understanding and experiences in developing critical thinking among students in higher education. To investigate how educators perceive and encourage critical thinking in the classroom, a qualitative phenomenological research approach was employed. Fourteen higher education teachers, lecturers, and university professors from different cities and disciplines at the tertiary level were selected for this purposive sample. In-depth semi-structured interviews were used to achieve a more nuanced understanding of how they conceptualise and practice challenging the critical thinking concept. Data were transcribed and subject to a thematic analysis aimed at identifying patterns/themes. The results showed that the majority of teachers had a good understanding of the concept of critical thinking and were well aware of its significance in fostering intellectual development, improving problem-solving ability, and encouraging independent learning. Collaborators described using class discussions, question-and-answer sessions, cases, and reflective activities to strengthen students' analysis and evaluation skills. Despite this will and intention, teachers pointed out contextual-institutional obstacles that do not always consistently foster critical thinking. In general, the research highlights how important teachers are and can be (or, on the other hand, are not) in the development of critical thinking skills through GE and calls for continual provision of support and training by HE institutions to enhance this crucial skill.
Carol Ann Tomlinson’s The Differentiated Classroom is a foundational work in the field of inclusive pedagogy and instructional design. It advocates for responsive teaching that accommodates students’ diverse needs, interests, readiness levels, and learning profiles. Grounded in constructivist theories of learning, the book promotes active, student-centred classrooms where instructional planning is dynamic, purposeful, and structured around equitable access to content and success. Tomlinson challenges educators to move beyond rigid, one-size-fits-all approaches and embrace flexible grouping, choice, and multiple modes of assessment and instruction to reach every learner.
Cultural Studies, an interdisciplinary field, has various bibliographic sources belonging to authors from different cultural backgrounds, creating a favourable environment for aligning Romanian higher education to an intercultural approach. Being marked by European or American theories, the presence of Asian bibliography in Cultural Studies from Romania, although not excluded, might be questioned. The article presents an interdisciplinary exploratory study in Cultural Studies and Education focused on analysing the bibliography of dissertations from a master's programme in Cultural Studies at a Romanian university. A sample of 31 dissertations between the years 2022-2024 was analysed. The research aim was to provide preliminary data about Asia’s presence in the bibliographies by exploring data on authors with names of perceived Asian origin, regardless of their nationality or citizenship. Using a mixed methodology and applying assumptions assisted by technology, the study gathered preliminary data about the names’ numerical and territorial distribution. The final results reflected a numerical underuse of perceived Asian names with a decreasing curve in most of the data from 2022 to 2024. Despite an overall higher territorial diversity in names’ places of origin, the average number per dissertation was low. Due to the challenges encountered, the results could only be approximated.
This study examines the correlation between the performance of primary school students following a gamification-based mathematics curriculum and their levels of anxiety during mathematics lessons, considering individual differences in intelligence types. The theoretical framework highlights the most important empirical studies that analyse the extent to which gamified interventions reduce anxiety. In addition, it emphasises the methodology for structuring a curricular educational programme centred on gamification as a complex educational strategy to promote specific values, attitudes, and behaviours. The quasi-experimental design involved a control and an experimental group, both of which were each subjected to a one-month curricular educational programme. Specifically, the experimental group's programme assumes solving didactic tasks related to the curricular content exclusively through gamification. Furthermore, the effect of gamification on school anxiety, moderated by the levels of logico-mathematical and intrapersonal intelligence, was also studied. The results of study indicated that statistically significant correlation existed between school-level efficiency and students' anxiety but the levels of intelligence did not moderate this correlation.
Overall, the study highlighted that a school environment focused on the specific advantages of using gamification has direct effects through modelling an efficient learning environment, increasing the ability to understand mathematical phenomena, and decreasing anxiety regarding assessment situations in mathematics (operationalised by the McKenzie, Multiple Intelligences Inventory), without being statistically significantly moderated by logical-mathematical or intrapersonal intelligence levels.
This study explored how personality traits shape the career choices of undergraduate students at Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti. Using a descriptive survey design, the research examined this relationship within a real-world academic environment without altering any variables. The target population included students across various faculties and academic levels, from which a sample of 300 was carefully selected through stratified random sampling to ensure broad representation. Data were gathered using a structured questionnaire—the Students’ Personality Traits and Career Choice Questionnaire (SPTCCQ) which featured sections on demographic details, the Big Five personality traits (based on McCrae & Costa, 1992), and career decision-making indicators drawn from standardised scales. Content validity was confirmed through expert review by professionals in Educational Psychology and Guidance and Counselling, and a reliability test conducted with 30 students from a similar institution produced a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.84, indicating strong internal consistency. The questionnaires were distributed during non-lecture periods with the help of trained assistants to encourage participation. Data analysis involved descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation, and multiple regression, with a 0.05 level of significance guiding interpretation. Findings showed that ‘openness to experience’ emerged as the most prominent personality trait and the strongest predictor of students’ career choices. Students predominantly favoured careers in Medicine/Health Sciences and Business/Management, with personal interest, potential earnings, and job opportunities being the most decisive influences. Peer influence was found to be the least significant. Based on these findings, the study recommends incorporating personality profiling into university career counselling services to help students make well-informed career decisions aligned with their individual traits.
