Educare 2015.indb EDUCARE: International Journal for Educational Studies, 8(1) August 2015 i© 2015 by Minda Masagi Press Bandung and UMP Purwokerto, IndonesiaISSN 1979-7877 and website: www.educare-ijes.com Volume 8(1) August 2015 www.educare-ijes.com ISSN 1979-7877 Contents Foreword. [ii] HUANG JIAN, Reconceptualization of the Relationship between Formative Assessment and Summative Assessment. [1-10] SITI MARYAM, Scheme Implementation as an Effort to Build Originality in Writing. [11-22] MOHD HASAN & MOHAMMAD PARVEZ, Study of Under-Graduate Students’ Attitude towards Computer. [23-30] CHRISTINA ANDIN @ NUR QISTINA, ABDUL SAID AMBOTANG & MUSIRIN MOSIN, Teaching Thinking Skills in Teacher Education. [31-44] JOHNI DIMYATI, A Study of Education History on Gifted Children: Research on Their Learning Achievement as They Started Their School Under Seven. [45-54] NEHA SHARMA, A Study of the Impact of Qualification and Salary on the Attitude of Primary School Teachers towards the Teaching Profession. [55-62] KRIZNA REI M. PALCES, ARTHUR S. ABULENCIA & WENSLEY M. REYES, Predicting the Priorities of Multicultural Education in a Philippine Teacher Education Institution: An Exploratory Study. [63-72] NABI AHMAD & B. RAZIA, Study Habits in Relation to Socio-Economics Status and Gender among Muslim Adolescents. [73-80] SUSANTO, Fish Community in Serayu River, Banyumas Residency, Central Java, Indonesia. [81-96] ANANT KUMAR VARSHNEY, Attitude of Rural and Urban Undergraduate Students of Aligarh Muslim University towards Computer. [97-104] Info-edu-tainment. [105-114] EDUCARE: International Journal for Educational Studies, 8(1) August 2015 ii © 2015 by Minda Masagi Press Bandung and UMP Purwokerto, IndonesiaISSN 1979-7877 and website: www.educare-ijes.com FOREWORD Assalamu’alaikum Wr. Wbr. (Peace be upon you). Let us thanks to our Almighty, Allah SWT (Subhanahu Wa-Ta’ala), Who has bestowed us all the best blessings and prosperity. Peace may be upon to our Great Prophet Muhammad SAW (Salallahu ‘Alaihi Wassalam or peace be upon him), his companions, his family, and his faithful and dutiful followers until the end of the world. Amien. The advancement of science and technology has changed the face of the world; it is no exception with the world of education. If in the process of teaching and learning conventionally, teacher has enough had a media by using “chalk and talk” in the learning method; then, in modern teaching and learning process, teachers must use a multi-media based on ICT (Information and Communication Technology) in order to attract the interest and attention of learners in the learning method. One of the ICT-based learning media is the use of a computer. Computers have changed the world of “virtual” into the “real world” in the learning process at school. Anything that previously has not occurred and unlikely to exist, now all is available in computer as a media. Hence, the teachers nowadays should be “computer literate” and they must have the ability also to utilize the media for the benefit and good educational purposes. Good teachers are those who love the teaching profession. Teachers who do not love their profession will feel forced and tortured in undergoing his/her profession as a teacher. Meanwhile, a profession requires and demands a number of competencies. Professional teachers, therefore, should have a number of competencies, which in the context of teacher education in Indonesia, one of the important competencies is “didactic competencies”, in addition to other important competencies such as academic competence, personal competence and social competence. Didactic competence is an ability to be possessed by teachers in managing the learning process in the classroom. This didactic competencies also required the ability of teachers in designing, implementing, and assessing the learning process, so that the real purpose of education, namely the “humanizing”, can be achieved very well. Articles in the EDUCARE journal, issue of August 2015 – also in the context of commemorating the 70 years of Indonesian Independence – a lot of study about media of education, especially computers in the learning process, and about the profession of teacher education, in addition to other issues such as: evaluation of education, abilities in writing and thinking, academic achievement, multicultural education, environmental education, and study habits. What is exciting to me, as Honorable Patron of EDUCARE journal, is that the authors of this journal more than 50% came from the Scholars abroad, namely from China, India, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Of the 10 articles that presented in the August 2015 edition, only three articles come from Indonesia, namely from Lecturer of UNSUR (University of Suryakancana) in Cianjur, West Java; and of course from the Lecturers of UMP (University of Muhammadiyah Purwokerto) itself in Central Java, Indonesia. The Scholars of India, especially from AMU (Aligarh Muslim University), much to send the results of their studies, as apparent in the articles were entitled: (1) “A Study of Under-Graduate Students’ Attitude towards Computer” by Mohd Hasan & Mohammad Parvez; (2) “A Study of the Impact of Qualification and Salary on the Attitude of Primary School Teachers towards the Teaching Profession” by Neha Sharma; (3) “Study Habits in Relation to Socio-Economics Status and Gender among Muslim Adolescents” by Nabi Ahmad & B. Razia; and (4) “Attitude of Rural and Urban Undergraduate Students of Aligarh Muslim University towards Computer” by Anant Kumar Varshney. Productivity of the Scholars of India in conducting the research, study, and writing of the findings, I think, needs to be emulated and replicated by the Scholars of Indonesia so that the thinking and the results of their research are also known and recognized by the academic community around the globe. Meanwhile, Scholar of China presents an article on the importance of assessment or evaluation in education, “Reconceptualization of the Relationship between Formative Assessment and Summative Assessment” by Huang Jian. As stated by the author that although many well- known studies have been carried out for FA (Formative Assessment), or SA (Summative Assessment), or both, there has been contrasting views and misunderstandings about the relationship between FA and SA. It is argued in this paper that the confused relationship between FA and SA stems from the fact that it is either conceptualized from the perspective of function or from the perspective of process alone. The relation between FA and SA is very fine, far from clear-cut and a clarified relation between them is necessary for both our right understanding of FA and SA as well as the realization of the balance between FA and SA in practice as advocated by many educational policies. The Scholars of Malaysia examine on “Teaching Thinking Skills in Teacher Education” by Christina Andin @ Nur Qistina, Abdul Said Ambotang & Musirin Mosin, which states, inter alia, that the thinking skills policy in Malaysia is motivated by the aspiration of the 2020 Vision that was published in 1991. The vision states explicitly that Malaysia will become a fully developed nation by the year 2020. So, the teaching thinking skills has also been given a high priority in educational policy. However, many teachers are ill-equipped with the ability to teach thinking skills. Therefore, as the producer of current and future teacher, teacher education programme should emphasise thinking skills teaching. The Scholars from the Philippines studied on “Predicting the Priorities of Multicultural Education in a Philippine Teacher Education Institution: An Exploratory Study” by Krizna Rei M. Palces, Arthur S. Abulencia & Wensley M. Reyes, which also states that multicultural education is a contemporary pedagogy, which prepares academic institutions to combat discrimination and oppression. It also aims to maximize learning by creating an environment that is safe and productive. Multicultural education is quite literally the pedagogy of the oppressed. It is a pedagogy that was born out of the struggle of the oppressed sectors in the West such as the African-Americans, women, homosexuals, religious minorities, atheists, indigenous people, the differently-abled, and others. This is the embodiment of the dreams of those who fought for equality and respect. Since many forms of oppression are still existent in various societies, multicultural education continues to receive support from education sectors in many free countries. Last but not least, the Scholars of Indonesia examine about “Scheme Implementation as an Effort to Build Originality in Writing” by Siti Maryam; “A Study of Education History on Gifted Children: Research on Their Learning Achievement as They Started Their School Under Seven” by Johni Dimyati; and “Fish Community in Serayu River, Banyumas Residency, Central Java, Indonesia” by Susanto. Studies from the Indonesian Scholars, once again I emphasize, must continue to be encouraged and raised so that the results of their research related to education can be read and disseminated widely by the Scholars in Southeast Asia and around the world. Do enjoy reading the EDUCARE journal and hopefully you will derive much benefit from it. Wassalamu’alaikum Wr. Wbr. (peace be also upon you). Purwokerto, Central Java, Indonesia: August 17, 2015. Dr. Haji Syamsuhadi Irsyad Rector of UMP in Purwokerto, Central Java; and Honorable Patron of the EDUCARE Journal in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia.