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The ever-increasing rate of failure among undergraduate students in universities is a major issue in most Arab countries. Their inability to perform effectively after they graduate from the universities might reflect the inadequate quality of education provided by the university. Little that we know, quality education is not always the main cause of failure among students. Hence, this study examined the sex differences in career tendencies using the Holland test, and the associations between them and specialty of subjects among universities students in Oman. In total 533 students (236 men and 297 women) with the mean age of 22.7 were assessed at Dhofar University in Oman. Male students recorded a significantly higher score on Realistic career tendency, while female students have significantly higher scores on Artistic career tendency. Female students also recorded significantly higher scores on Social career tendency compared to male students. Parental educational levels were significantly and positively associated with Realistic, Investigative, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional career tendencies, but were not associated with Artistic career tendency. The results also show that the students in engineering specialization are more likely to have Investigative and Social career tendencies than students in Applied and Humanity subjects. On the contrary, the students in applied specialization are less likely to have Social career tendency, but more likely to have conventional career tendency. Besides, the result shows that students' specialization in Humanity and Applied have negative significant correlation with family income and age factors, respectively. The result of the study is expected to contribute to the current body of knowledge regarding the association of career tendency with demographic factors and student's specialization, specifically in the context of tertiary education in Oman. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current study the Main purpose is to use a new model of lesson study which discover mechanisms of change in the mathematics classroom. In this regard, six secondary school mathematics teachers and one professor of mathematics education co-operation for developing a new lesson which related to concept of trigonometry. This study administrated in 6 months and all members participate in 6 sessions for developing 3 research lessons. Indeed, lesson study was used as research design in current study. Results of this study show that the modified lessons which developed through respiting lesson study cycle in 3 times, work effectively and teaching method of mathematics' teachers was enhanced caused by this lesson study experience. Analysis of data reveals the mechanism of changes during this lesson study which are common attention, share experiences, observe challenges of teaching in the classroom, and feel the need and urgency of change. Furthermore, participants in this study mentioned some benefits of doing lesson study as affordances which are considering students' needs, increasing teachers' capability in the process of teaching and learning mathematics when students work in the group. Participant teachers in current study discussed about difficulties of using lesson study in their mathematics classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excellence and creativity in mathematics are necessary requirements for the twenty-first century, and some countries have gone to build and develop new curricula for excellence and creativity. We prepared an activity program in mathematics based on Feuerstein's instrumental enrichment program and Gardner's multiple intelligences theory to increase excellence and creativity in mathematics for Omani students. We hypothesized that the success of previous programs based on the same foundations would generalize to Omani students. In an experiment, the experimental group received a special training and the control group did not. We then checked whether the pretest-posttest gain was larger for the experimental group than for the control group. The study sample was comprised of an experimental group of n = 35 8th-grade girl students of class nr. 8/1 in Aesha bent Abu Bakr school in Salalah, Oman, and a control group of n = 36 of 8th- grade girl students of class nr. 8/3 in the same school. The differences in pretest-posttest gains were analyzed using t-tests, significance levels, correlations, and effect sizes. There were large and significant experimental effects in favor of the experimental group, showing these educational outcomes can be generalized to Oman. We note various limitations of the study and give various recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary goal of education is to develop the students' minds, including critical thinking and numerical sense. To develop these skills, a teacher is well-advised to use modern techniques and one of these is De Bono's Six Thinking Hats technique. We hypothesized that De Bono’s technique applied to teaching math would substantially increase the skills of students. Participants in the experimental group (N = 34) received a treatment based upon the Six Thinking Hats technique, and participants in the control group (N = 35) received an alternative treatment. Data were analyzed using means, standard deviations, t-tests, and effect sizes. Skills increased much more for the experimental group. It is clear that the Six Thinking Hats technique was highly effective in developing math skills, and various reasons were discussed. It is recommended to consider extending the use of the Six Hats technique to the teaching of all the mathematics courses in secondary education, and focus on preparing activities that enable students to practice critical thinking skills and numerical sense. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This study was based on two independent studies which in total consisted of 1812 school pupils aged 6–12 years in Saudi Arabia. Study I consisted of 1591 school pupils (609 boys and 982 girls) attending state schools, and Study II consisted of 211 boys with learning disabilities. Intelligence (measured using the Standard Progressive Matrices Plus for Study I and the Standard Progressive Matrices for Study II), head size and height were measured for the two samples. The results showed that intelligence was statistically significantly correlated with head circumference (r=0.350, p<0.001 for Study I and r=0.168, p<0.05 for Study II) and height (r=0.271, p<0.001 for Study I and r=0.178, p<0.05 for Study II). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]