Study conducted at Guntur District of Andhra Pradesh, India.

Written for language teachers in training, this book surveys issues and procedures in conducting practice teaching. Written for language teachers in training at the diploma, undergraduate, or graduate level, Practice Teaching, A Reflective Approach surveys issues and procedures in conducting practice teaching. The book adopts a reflective approach to practice teaching and shows student teachers how to explore and reflect on the nature of language teaching and their own approaches to teaching through their experience of practice teaching.

While the importance of knowledge for effective instruction has long been acknowledged, and the concept and structure of mathematics knowledge for teaching are far from being new, the process of such knowledge acquisition and improvement remains underexplored empirically and theoretically. The difficulty can well associate with the fact that different education systems embody different values for what mathematics teachers need to learn and how they can be assisted to develop their knowledge. To improve this situation with needed consideration about a system context and policies, How Chinese Acquire and Improve Mathematics Knowledge for Teaching takes a unique approach to present new research that views knowledge acquisition and improvement as part of teachers’ life-long professional learning process in China. The book includes such chapters that can help readers to make possible connections of teachers’ mathematical knowledge for teaching in China with educational policies and program structures for mathematics teacher education in that system context. How Chinese Acquire and Improve Mathematics Knowledge for Teaching brings invaluable inspirations and insights to mathematics educators and teacher educators who wish to help teachers improve their knowledge, and to researchers who study this important topic beyond a static knowledge conception.

Teaching across Cultures: Building Pedagogical Relationships in Diverse Contexts captures the tensions, complexities as well as the transformational potentials of teaching across multiple cultural contexts. The book evolved from cumulative self-studies that examined one teacher educator’s teaching practice, the cultural impact on this practice, and how she facilitated transformative teaching and learning. While every act of teaching occurs across cultures such as institutional culture, invisible cultures, classroom cultures, among others, educators who teach as cultural outsiders have to navigate the tensions, complexities and contradictory realities of cross-cultural teaching. The tensions can be reduced or managed through responsive pedagogy, relationship building and teaching in the third space. These transformational approaches not only help to identify and close the perpetual gaps in teaching and learning but also position effective teaching within a pedagogical common ground that values student voices, facilitates pedagogical flexibility and uses diversity as a teaching tool. In a world of ubiquitous and interactive learning environments, both the physical and virtual spaces play a vital role in teaching and teacher-student relationships. The book points to the necessity of teacher educators’ learning through diverse professional networks but more importantly through self-study. It is only through this introspective examination of one’s teaching and students’ learning as well as taking an ontological attitude to teaching that educators can achieve success in diverse contexts.

GEOFF NORMAN McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada CEES VAN DER VLEUTEN University of Maastricht, Netherlands DA VID NEWBLE University of Sheffield, England The International Handbook of Research in Medical Education is a review of current research findings and contemporary issues in health sciences education. The orientation is toward research evidence as a basis for informing policy and practice in education. Although most of the research findings have accrued from the study of medical education, the handbook will be useful to teachers and researchers in all health professions and others concerned with professional education. The handbook comprises 33 chapters organized into six sections: Research Traditions, Learning, The Educational Continuum, Instructional Strategies, Assessment, and Implementing the Curriculum. The research orientation of the handbook will make the book an invaluable resource to researchers and scholars, and should help practitioners to identify research to place their educational decisions on a sound empirical footing. THE FIELD OF RESEARCH IN MEDICAL EDUCAnON The discipline of medical education began in North America more than thirty years ago with the founding of the first office in medical education at Buffalo, New York, by George Miller in the early 1960s. Soon after, large offices were established in medical schools in Chicago (University of Illinois), Los Angeles (University of Southern California) and Lansing (Michigan State University). All these first generation offices mounted master's level programs in medical education, and many of their graduates went on to found offices at other schools.

This book brings together and builds on the current research efforts on adaptation, conceptualization, and theorization of Lesson Study (LS). It synthesizes and illustrates major perspectives for theorizing LS and enriches the conceptualization of LS by interpreting the activity as it is used in Japan and China from historical and cultural perspectives. Presenting the practices and theories of LS with practicing teachers and prospective teachers in more than 10 countries, it enables the reader to take a comparative perspective. Finally, the book presents and discusses studies on key aspects of LS such as lesson planning, post-lesson discussion, guiding theories, connection between research and practice, and upscaling. Lesson Study, which has originated in Asia as a powerful effective professional development model, has spread globally. Although the positive effects of lesson study on teacher learning, student learning, and curriculum reforms have been widely documented, conceptualization of and research on LS have just begun to emerge. This book, including 38 chapters contributed by 90 scholars from 21 countries, presents a truly international collaboration on research on and adaptation of LS, and significantly advances the development of knowledge about this process. Chapter 15: "How Variance and Invariance Can Inform Teachers’ Enactment of Mathematics Lessons" of this book is available open access under a CC BY 4.0 license at link.springer.com Theory and Practice of Lesson Study in Mathematics: An International Perspective shows that the power of Lesson Study to transform the role of teachers in classroom research cannot be explained by a simple replication model. Here we see Lesson Study being successful internationally when its key principles and practices are taken seriously and are adapted to meet local issues and challenges. (Max Stephens, Senior research fellow at The University of Melbourne) It works. Instruction improves, learning improves. Wide scale? Enduring? Deep impact? Lesson study has it. When something works as well as lesson study does, while alternative systems for improving instruction fail, or only succeed on small scale or evaporate as quickly as they show promise, it is time to understand how and why lesson study works. This volume brings the research on lesson study together from around the world. Here is what we already know and here is the way forward for research and practice informed by research. It is time to wake up and pay attention to what has worked so well, on wide scale for so long. (Phil Dara, A leading author of the Common Core State Standards of Mathematics in the U.S.)

The 2nd Universitas Kuningan International Conference on System, Engineering, and Technology (UNISET) will be an annual event hosted by Universitas Kuningan. This year (2021), will be the second UNISET will be held on 2 December 2021 at Universitas Kuningan, Kuningan, West Java, Indonesia. “Opportunity and challenge in environmental, social science and humanity research during the pandemic Covid-19 era and afterward” has been chosen at the main theme for the conference, with a focus on the latest research and trends, as well as future outlook of the field of Call for paper fields to be included in UNISET 2021 are: natural science, education, social science and humanity, environmental science, and technology. The conference invites delegates from across Indonesian and South East Asian region and beyond, and is usually attended by more than 100 participants from university academics, researchers, practitioners, and professionals across a wide range of industries.

1.1 Introduction: Brain is the best gift of God to humanity. It makes him supreme among all other creatures of earth. A child’s brain although a natural gift, needs to be shaped and well directed for living an agreeable, calm and contingent life. The practice which carries out this reward is what we mark as education. Education trends and carves him for humanity. There are usually two characteristics of human life: one is natural or biological and the other one is socio- cultural or spiritual. Man envisaged in terms of his biological subsistence alone is no better than an animal. His biological subsistence is secured through food, shelter and reproduction. But human life can never be limited to its biological existence alone. Man’s life can only be overvalued by education and it is only the cultural or social feature of human life which specifies his ultimate place and thus composes the splendid work of Almighty creator.

We are moving toward a future in which digital practices are becoming more ubiquitous. Also, there is evidence to suggest that innovative digital practices are changing the face of 21st-century learning environments. Critical to 21st-century teaching and learning success is continued emphasis on learner preferences, shaped by innovative digital technology-driven learning environments alongside teacher awareness, knowledge, and preparedness to deliver high-impact instruction using active learning pedagogies. Thus, the purposeful and selective use of digital learning tools in higher education and the incorporation of appropriate active learning pedagogies are pivotal to enhancing and supporting meaningful student learning. Innovative Digital Practices and Globalization in Higher Education explores innovative digital practices to enhance academic performance for digital learners and prepare qualified graduates who are competent to work in an increasingly global digital workplace. Global competence has become an essential part of higher education and professional development. As such, it is the responsibility of higher education institutions to prepare students with the knowledge, skills, and competencies required to compete in the digital and global market. Covering topics such as design thinking, international students, and digital teaching innovation, this premier reference source is an essential resource for pre-service and in-service teachers, educational technologists, instructional designers, faculty, administrators, librarians, researchers, and academicians.