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Item Using research to inform practice: the teacher as a practitioner researcher(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2018) Abukari, Abdulai; Abubaka, Ahmed Bawa KuyiniItem The UAE High School Students’ Conceptions of the Nature of Science (NOS)(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2018) Al-Bouti, EmanRecently, science education has become an essential subject for all countries. Providing an appropriate science education affects students’ conceptions of the Nature of Science (NOS). Participants in this study included 100 students from one secondary private American school in Al Ain; both girls and boys from different grades and with different nationalities were involved in the research. This study investigated the students’ conceptions of the NOS. The research study followed a mixed qualitative and quantitative approach. A questionnaire was used to collect data, in both quantitative and qualitative formats. Data was analysed statistically using SPSS. The results of the statistical analysis of the questionnaire revealed the positive conception of students toward the NOS in general and toward scientific theory, scientific knowledge, scientific activities, and scientific inquiry in particular. The study concluded that most of the secondary school students have appropriate conceptions of the NOS in relation to the context of their science learning.Item The Relationship between Cognitive Development, Teaching Creative Thinking, Assessment, and an Interdisciplinary Approach(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2018) ElSayary, Dr AreejCognitive development is widely considered to be one of the most important aspects of students’ learning. It relates to the identification of patterns, relationships, and the use of language. It concerns with the affective development, which is related to the emotions and the psychomotor development - the movement and activities that are associated with the mental process. One of the main issues is the challenges teachers face to address these categories in a specific topic. The standardized assessment tests such as Trends in International Math and Science Study TIMSS and the Program for International Student PISA have three main categories: knowledge, application and reasoning. It is interesting, and important to note, that learning has similar categories: knowledge, skills, and understanding. Considerable attention must be paid in aligning the learning domains to the assessment domains in order to raise students’ attainment in the standardized assessments. In order to achieve these results, it is important to understand the kind of knowledge being learned, how memory works, how best to teach for creativity, and how people learn. Interdisciplinary Science, Technology, Engineering and Math STEM is a new reform in education which helps to develop students’ 21st century skills and creative thinking. A new framework is being proposed, to develop students’ skills through teaching them an interdisciplinary STEM curriculum using authentic tasks (problem-based learning) that leads them to higher-order thinking skills. This paper is presenting a critical reflection on cognitive development, teaching creativity, assessment types, and an interdisciplinary STEM approach, and the relationship between them.Item Substitution and Ellipsis in the First Year University Students’ English Essay Writing(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2018) Abdulrahman, NishadWithout doubt, cohesion plays a significant role in writing, and therefore a considerable amount of research has been done on cohesive devices in students’ writing. All these studies have had a common finding that substitution and ellipsis, two grammatical cohesive devices, are the least employed cohesive items in ESL/EFL students’ written work. However, much of this research investigated substitution and ellipsis along with other cohesive devices. As a result, studies done on substitution and ellipsis independently of other cohesive devices are very rare. This stresses the need for further research to delve into these two grammatical cohesive devices. The current study is done to address this need and investigates the use of substitution and ellipsis in the first year university students’ essay writing. The mixed methods study done on five participants from a university in the UAE administers a written test to collect data and performs a textual analysis to identify different types of substitution and ellipsis and their respective functions in students’ essays. A frequency count is also performed to measure the frequency of different kinds of substitution and ellipsis in comparison to personal pronouns used as reference in students’ writing.Item Students’ Attitudes towards Collaborative Learning in Language Classroom(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2018) Hassanein, Amir AtefCollaborative learning has been adopted as a teaching technique in ESL classes in the last three decades. Teachers use CL based on recommendations of researchers and linguists who wrote very positive feedback on it. Students’ attitudes and feedback to collaborative learning, i.e. group work, are highly crucial to determine an aspect of success in the teaching-learning process. This research is an attempt to investigate the attitudes of students towards group work activities they perform in English language lessons. The research used mixed method approach to gain more comprehensive insights from high school students in an American curriculum school in Dubai. The findings generally showed that students have positive attitudes towards collaborative learning activities in the classroomItem Special Education Teachers’ Perceptions on Using Technology for Communication Practices(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2018) Siyam, NurAn important aspect to the effective education of students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) is the successful coordination between all stakeholders (parents, educators and therapists). The present study employed qualitative methods to investigate teachers’ perceptions on the current communication practices and how they can be improved using technology. Nine special education teachers participated in semi-structured interviews. Teachers in the study used both traditional and, to a lesser degree, technological means of communication. Technological methods included instant messaging, the school’s information system, and electronic Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) shared on the cloud. The data revealed that some special education teachers were content with the current methods of communication, while others perceived the introduction of new technology useful for the improvement of the communication process. Results can be used to identify the requirements needed before developing and launching new innovations for communication between parties involved with the intervention of SEND students.