Upsr, Pmr and Spm Should Be Abolish

In June 2010, the Minister of Education Muhyiddin announced the probability of UPSR, and PMR examinations being abolished. With the ever changing policies from the Ministry of Education every time the minister changes,(Kheru,2011) this news came as a no surprise. But the main issue still remains intact. It is not just the UPSR, and PMR, but should we just abolish the whole three main examinations, UPSR, PMR, and SPM?Even though examinations makes students focus in their studies, and can differentiate, whether they should be in the arts stream or in the science stream, these examinations only restricts creative thinking because it makes the students study only for the sake of passing the examinations and students do not study anything other than the topics that will appear in the examinations. The first argument that the anti-abolishment poses is that the students can focus in their studies with the UPSR, PMR and SPM examinations. However, students can still focus on their studies wit h the normal semester tests and yearly examinations.The normal examinations will be more effective because it will keep the students on their toes because they do not only have one test to pass but a monthly/ yearly tests/ examinations. It will actually make the students take examinations more seriously because the examinations would be treated as a long- term assessment. (Murali, 2012) For example, every month we have a simple test just to check the progress of the students, then before the first semester break and the year-end break, conduct an examination. It is just like our current system, just without the UPSR, PMR and SPM.The next argument stated by the anti-abolishment is that the examination is the only way the school can differentiate the students that will go to science stream or arts stream (Fared, 2010). But, with the long-term assessment, the teachers would know what suits them most through the results of the exam. The students talents will show in the results, whether they are more suited for science stream or art stream. The teachers will play an important role in the selection of students because it is them that have the most contact with the students.They should be able to tell whether the students are more suitable in science or arts. For example, if a student’s results shows that she excels at math and science, then he/she is suited more in the science stream but if a student shows continuous problems in science and mathematics, then he/she is probably not suited for the science stream. Thirdly, the anti-abolishment stated that the teachers will start being lazy if the three main exams are abolished. (Fared, 2010). With the long-term assessment, the teachers’ job will be more than enough.The teachers would need to pay attention to the students’ growth more closely because the students’ potential will be gauge only by the teachers so that to determine whether their abilities belong in the science or arts stream. T he tests and year examinations will make sure the teachers teach the students properly by completing the syllabus on time. The teachers also have to conduct other activities to fully gauge out the students potential and further develop their creativity and self-confidence with activities which makes them to be more outgoing and open-minded.Personally I think that the three examinations (UPSR, PMR and SPM) will result in the students to lack personality and creativity, and will not be qualified enough to fulfil future careers. The exam-oriented education system distorts motivation and learning by overemphasising the importance of scores as outcomes and measures of students' abilities. (Murali, 2012) This statement could not be more true, as there are many students which have excellent scores but their soft skills, like public speaking and presenting their own ideas and arguments, are largely lacking.Moreover, students lack the confidence to correct the teachers if the teachers are wr ong. According to Murali, in the article ‘GOOD scores, no life skills, â€Å"In my classes, students do not dare to talk with me because of the lack of confidence and intellect to justify arguments. † They are used to having blinding faith in authority, which are the teachers and the textbooks. They would not even think that the teachers or the textbooks could be wrong.Resulting in them being too dependent on the teachers and are not willing to do more than what they had done in class. To sum it up, despite the fact that examinations makes students focus in their studies, and can differentiate, whether they should be in the arts stream or in the science stream, we should keep in mind that these examinations only hampers creative thinking because it makes the students study only for the sake of making the grade the examinations and students do not study anything other than the topics that will appear in the examinations.We should take the education system of countries li ke US, Australia and the European Union as a reference because their system provides the students the opportunities to improve many types of their intelligence. The students are encourage to be creative, free-thinking, more tolerant and open-minded person. ( Kheru, 2011) Countries like China, Japan and Korea have already started to make a changes in their education system, albeit slowly. So, when are we going to start? Or are we still going to stick with the system that was created when we were still colonised by the British?

Preparation of 2-Acetylcyclohexanone Essays

Preparation of 2-Acetylcyclohexanone Essays Preparation of 2-Acetylcyclohexanone Paper Preparation of 2-Acetylcyclohexanone Paper Introduction3 Results4 Discussion6 Conclusion7 Experimental7 References8 Preparation of 2-Acetylcyclohexanone Introduction When hydrogens are present on the ? -carbon of ketones (like the reaction used in this experiment), carbonyl compounds and aldehydes, they turn the compound slightly acidic1. These functional groups are removed by using a basic solution as shown in (i) below1. The product formed with water is stable only due to resonance, but does not form a very stable equilibrium. Enamine reactions are used to avoid many problems usually associated with alkylating or acylating carbonyl compounds when they are reacted with aqueous sodium hydroxide1 as shown in reactions (ii) and (iv)1. The main problem being that the reaction results in a great number of crucial secondary side reactions, such as those in equations (iii), (iv) and (vi), and this in turn results in the main product formed in (i) being only available in small amounts because of the previously mentioned unstable equilibrium, while nucleophile OH- in equation (iii) is much higher1. When the OH- reacts with alkyl halide (iii) or acyl halide (iv), the conjugate base will tend to react with the unreacted carbonyl compound by means of an aldol condensation reaction as shown in equation (vi)1. Results Preparation of the enamine PyrrolidineCyclohexanone Molecular formula: C4H9NMolecular formula: C6H10O Volume: 4. 0 ml+. Volume: 5. 0 ml Density: 0. 87 g cm-3Density: 0. 95 g cm-3 Boiling point: 87? CBoiling point: 156? C Masses were worked out using densities: Mass cyclohexanone = 0. 947g/ml x 5ml = 4. 739g Therefore moles = mass/molar mass = 4. 739g/98. 15g mol-1 = 0. 483 moles Mass pyrrolidine = 0. 866g/mol x 4. 0 ml = 3. 464g Therefore moles = mass/molar mass = 3. 464 / 71. 11g mol-1 Addition of the acetic anhydride EnamineAcetic Anhydride Molecular formula: C10H9N Molecular formula: C4H6O3 ¬ (2) Volume: 4. 5 ml Density: 1. 08 g cm-3 (2) Molecular Weight: 102. 1 g/mol Boiling point: 139. 8? C(2) Moles : 0. 04760 moles Acetic anhydride is the limiting reagent The s toichiometric ratio of acetic anhydride to 2 acetylcyclohexanone is 1:1 Preparation of 2-Acetylcyclohexanone 1-pyrrolidino-1-cyclohexene2-Acetylcyclohexanone Molecular Weight: 151. 25 g mol-1 Molecular Weight: 140. 18 g mol ¬-1 Mass: 0. 14g Moles: 0. 04760 moles The stoichiometric ratio of acetic anhydride to 2 acetylcyclohexanone is 1:1, therefore there is 0. 04760 moles of 2-acetylcyclohexanone. Theoretical mass of 2-acetylcyclohexanone = 0. 04760mol x 140. 18g/mol = 6. 673g Percentage yield = Actual yield/ Theoretical yield x 100 = 0. 14g/6. 673g x 100 = 2. 10% Discussion As previously mentioned, aldehydes and ketones will tend to react with primary amines in order to form an imine, as can be seen in step 2 below. Enamines are very easily alkylated due to them being very nucleophillic1. The first step entails the reaction of pyrrolidine and cyclohexanone with p-Toluenesulfonic acid to form a toluene solution of the enamine as shown below. Step 1: Reaction of pyrrolidine and cyclohexanone with p-Toluenesulfonic acid to form a toluene solution of the enamine The second step involves the reaction of the toluene solution of the enamine with acetic anhydride to form 1-pyrrolidino-1-cyclohexene, which is the intermediate of the reaction. This intermediate is not seen as it cannot be isolated due to it being very unstable. Step 2: Reaction of the enamine with the acetic anhydride to form 1-pyrrolidinocyclohexene (the intermediate) The third and final step is the reaction of the intermediate(1-pyrrolidino-1-cyclohexene) with water in order to form final product 2-acetylcyclohexanone. Step 3: 1-pyrrolidino-1-cyclohexene (the intermediate) reacts with water in order to form 2-acetylcyclohexanone. The product was isolated by means of using a separator funnel. The solution was cooled till it was room temperature and transferred to a seperatory funnel. 10 ml water was also added to the funnel and the contents were mixed thoroughly by inverting the funnel several times and releasing the gas build-up pressure by releasing the valve on the stopcock. The aqueous layer was the bottom layer due to it being higher in density than the organic layer and was disposed of in a beaker. Similarly, the organic layer was rinsed with three portions of hydrochloric acid (3M) and finally rinsed again with water (10 ml). The organic layer was transferred to a clean 250 ml beaker and dried over MgSO4 – MgSO4 was added until it stopped clumping together at the bottom of the beaker in solution. The MgSO4 drying agent was then filtered off by vacuum suction. The melting point range obtained in the experiment was 110-119? C, which is not the same as the theoretical boiling point of 138? C. This could be due to impurities present in the sample, like water, which would lower the boiling point. The % yield was particularly low and could be attributed to insufficient reflux of the enamine solution that was supposed to have een refluxed for a minimum of half an hour, but due to time constraints, was only refluxed for 20 minutes. Another way to make 2-acetylcyclohexanone is by using a suspension of tellurium chloride and chloroform4 Conclusion There are three steps in the mechanism to forming 2-acetylcyclohexanone. These are reacting pyrrolidine and cyclohexanone with p-Toluenesulfonic acid to form a tol uene solution of the enamine, reaction of the enamine with the acetic anhydride to form 1-pyrrolidinocyclohexene, and reacting 1-pyrrolidino-1-cyclohexene (the intermediate) with water in order to form 2-acetylcyclohexanone. The melting point range obtained experimentally was 110-119? C and is very different from the theoretical melting point range due to errors that have occurred during the procedure of the practical and are explained in the discussion above. The particularly low % yield of 2. 10% is due to insufficient reflux time. Experimental Preparation of the toluene solution of the enamine A 100ml round bottomed flask was pre-weighed, after which cyclohexanone (5. 0ml), pyrrolidine (4. 0ml), toluene-4-sulfonic acid (0. 1g) and 40 ml toluene were added to it. boiling chips were also added to the reagent mixture so as to prevent loss of product due to splashing and boiling of the product. The Dean and Stark apparatus was set up individually by each student. The 100 ml round bottomed flask with reagent mixture was then fit to the Dean and Stark apparatus with a reflux condenser fit to the top of the apparatus. The reflux condenser was fit with a calcium chloride drying tube in order to prevent atmosp heric moisture from reacting with the contents of the round bottomed flask, and also to serve as a means to relieve pressure formed during the reaction. A heating mantle was used to heat the round bottomed flask till a vigorous reflux of the toluene, with vapour rising up the condenser was observable. It was observed that the water that formed as a result of the reaction of the toluene reflux collected in the trap portion of the Dean and Stark trap apparatus. Once the solution was boiling, reflux was continued for an hour. During this waiting period, a solution of acetic anhydride (4. 5 ml) in toluene (10 ml) was prepared. Once reflux was complete after one hour, the solution was cooled till it could be handled comfortably and the Dean and Stark apparatus was removed. While waiting for the flask to cool, the distillation setup was prepared by re-positioning the condenser with both a receiver and receiver flask. The now cooled round bottomed flask was fit with a thermometer attached by means of a still head and fit to the distillation setup. The flask was once again heating using a heating mantle to distil pyrrolidine and water that was still present. Distillation was continued until the temperature reached 108-110? C. Thereafter, the round bottomed flask was allowed to cool down to room temperature after removing it from the distillation setup and removing the still head with thermometer. Preparation of the 2-Acetylcyclohexanone The acetic anhydride solution that had been previously prepared was then added to the round bottom flask containing the enamine solution while stirring and was further stirred for 15 minutes. Water (5 ml) and 3 boiling chips was then added to the flask and fit with a reflux condenser. This new reagent mixture containing intermediate product enamine was heated under reflux for a full 30 minutes once the solution came to a boil. This was the stopping point for day 1 of the experiment. The round bottomed flask was labelled and stoppered for continuation of the experiment on the following week. On day 2 of the experiment, the content of the round bottomed flask was transferred to a separating funnel. Water (10 ml) was used to rinse the round bottomed flask and this rinsing was added to the separating funnel. The content of the funnel was mixed well and the gas was released by opening the stopcock. The aqueous layer was the lower layer and was separated from the organic layer, which remained in the funnel. Similarly, the organic layer was rinsed with three portions of hydrochloric acid (3M) and finally rinsed again with water (10 ml). The organic layer was transferred to a clean 250 ml beaker and dried over MgSO4 – MgSO4 was added until it stopped clumping together at the bottom of the beaker in solution. The MgSO4 drying agent was then filtered off by vacuum suction. The vacuum distillation setup was then prepared and the filtered solution was transferred to this setup in order to distil off the toluene at its boiling point of 110? C at 760 mmHg pressure. The remaining residue was put in a very small round bottomed flask. This flask was attached to a short path condenser with 3 anti-bumping granules added to the flask. 3 very small receiver flasks were preweighed before the product was flame distilled. Flame distillation took place under reduced pressure by means of using the bench vacuum. different fractions of product during the distillation were collected in 3 different receiver flasks. The temperature range that each of the fractions were collected at were recorded. The added masses of the product collected in all three flasks were used. References 1. courses. chem. psu. edu/chem36/Chem36H/IndivExpt1/435%20Acetylcyclohexanone. pdf – Accessed 11/08/08 2. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Acetic_anhydride – Accessed 11/08/08 3. P. Y Bruice, Organic Chemistry, 4th Edition, Pearson Education Inc. , 2004, USA pgs 747-753 4. freepatentsonline. com/4355097. html

Boil Water at Room Temperature

Boil Water at Room Temperature You can boil water at room temperature without heating it. This is because boiling is about pressure, not just temperature. Heres an easy way to see this for yourself. Simple Materials watersyringe You can get a syringe at any pharmacy or lab. You dont need the needle, so its  safe project, even for kids. How to Boil Water Without Heating It Use the plunger to pull up a bit of water into the syringe. Dont fill it you need airspace in order for this to work. You just need enough water that you can observe it.Next, you need to seal the bottom of the syringe so that it wont be able to suck up more air or water. You can put your fingertip over the opening, seal it with a cap (if one came with the syringe), or press a piece of plastic against the hole.Now youll boil the water. All you need to do is pull back as quickly as you can on the syringe plunger. It may take a couple of tries to perfect the technique, so you can keep the syringe still enough to watch the water. See it boil? How It Works The boiling point of water or any other liquid depends on vapor pressure. As you lower the pressure, the boiling point of the water drops. You can see this if you compare the boiling point of water at sea level with the boiling point of water on a mountain. The water on the mountain boils at a lower temperature, which is why you see high-altitude instructions on baking recipes! When you pull back on the plunger, you increase the amount of volume inside the syringe. However, the contents of the syringe cant change because you have sealed it. The air inside the tube acts as gases do and the molecules spread out to fill the whole space. The atmospheric pressure inside the syringe drops, creating a partial vacuum. The vapor pressure of the water becomes high enough compared to the atmospheric pressure that the water molecules can easily pass from the liquid phase into the vapor phase. This is boiling. Compare it with the normal boiling point of water. Pretty cool. Any time you lower the pressure around a liquid, you lower its boiling point. If you increase the pressure, you raise the boiling point. The relationship is not linear, so you would need to consult a phase diagram to predict how great the effect of a pressure change would be.

Protesting inequality - Harassment and protest in India Essay

Protesting inequality - Harassment and protest in India - Essay Example In India, women are married young, become young mothers at a young age that then burdens them with stringent financial and domestic responsibilities. A great number of women in India are malnourished as traditionally they should be the last to eat and last to receive medical attention. In relation to education 76%, men in India are educated while only 54% of women are educated; they receive little or no schooling and suffer from unfair and biased divorce and inheritance laws. To generate change the Indian people use the anti-reservation protests, in these protests, they push for integration of women into all the sectors mostly education, and also push for a revision of the existing policies. Other tactic people use to improve the conditions for women is the use of social media. In these, the people understand that the media possesses immense power in regard to influencing masses. In these, they ensure that the media covers all the women issues in India bringing them open to the publi c. In India, Television is one of the pervasive and powerful media that women use to ensure that their message is communicated to the public. Faithful patriots: religion and nationalism Islam is the official religion in Pakistan; the country has the second largest Muslim population after Indonesia. The 2007 census found that 96% of Pakistanis total population was Muslim with 20% being Shia and 76% Sunni. Historically, Islam arrived in Pakistan back in 711CE, after Umayyad dynasty sent a Muslim Arab army against the ruler of Sindh.

Prevention of Falls in Elderly Care Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Prevention of Falls in Elderly Care - Essay Example The contributory factors according to the authors have been diverse and complicated. The risk assessment approach is based on the multicomponent risk determination and management strategy. According to Brown et al. (2005) there is a growing body of evidence to suggest that interventions which are effectively intended to prevent fall risk factors among elderly can be more result oriented. However the authors doubt the degree of prevalence of such evidence and its real impact on clinical practices and physical therapy. According to Brown et al, further there is a clear impact of the professional behavioral change on the related outcomes involving fall prevention programs among the elderly. According to a survey carried out by the authors among some physical therapists in Connecticut, USA, almost 91% of the respondents identified environment related risk factors, the gait and physical balance related deficits as the main fall risk factors. At the same time a remarkable feature of the survey was the fact that 82% of the respondents said that modern intervention techniques based on medication were responsible for effective prevention of fall among the elderly. ... The exercise based intervention was recommended to a selected group of participants. Their results showed a greater degree of improvement in the focus group while the control group participants had no any improvement. Yet again the authors admit that there were some significant differences in mobility and strength of participants alone with substantial presence of divergence in balance.According to recent research the risk factors of falls among elderly are not limited to old age only. For example female patients are more likely to have a fall than a mail patient (Barry et al. 2001). In addition to the above there are such factors as low weight, too much of self dependency, psychotropic medication, alcohol abuse, disturbed vision, disorders related to gait, diabetes, physical imbalance and environmental factors. However such extreme courses like hypotension and cognitive impairment cannot be determined with a realistic assessment. For example risk factors involved in falls among elde rly can be basically related to physical disability arising from a variety of persistent weaknesses. Therefore habit forming behaviors might lead to falls that might become a pattern.The consequences of such falls have been identified as both mild and far reaching. For instance the current literature on the subject identifies the severity of falls along with their frequency to investigate the nature of outcomes. Weak bones in the elderly have been identified as one of the major causal factors for relative severity and frequency of falls. Falls that lead to fractures in the proximal femur, are often regarded as severe and mainly attributed to weak bones

Gazprom One of the Largest Gas Producing Companies of Russia Essay

Gazprom - One of the Largest Gas Producing Companies of Russia - Essay Example UGSS assures steady gas supply from the wellhead to the end user. (Gazprom.com, 2008c) d. Processing: Gazprom Group’s processing segment is made up of gas and gas condensate processing plants (GPP), the enterprises of Sibur Holding, and the oil-refining capacities of Gazprom Oil (Sibneft). (Gazprom.com, 2008d) e. Power industry: Its strategic task is to become a world scale energy production company with one whole chain – from production to sales – not only gas but also liquid hydrocarbons as well as producing a wide range of end products, electrical power being just one of such. (Gazprom.com, 2008e) The global strategy of Gazprom is to become the largest in the world for producing and distributing gas to the entire world so that appropriate amount of utilization of the natural resources can be done. Datamonitor (2007) states that 2006 was the first year after Gazprom’s share market liberalization. During this period, OAO "Gazprom" capitalization increased by over 70 % and amounted to $270 billion at the end of the year. Gazprom has been developing a unique resource base, production capacities and pipeline system. This effort take taken the company as the world’s most reliable energy resource suppliers to enterprises, organizations, and individuals. They are devoted to a specialized and accountable advance towards the development of these resources and the supply of the markets both in Russia and globally. Gazprom is engaged in research and development activities to strategize important energy resources in cooperation with the most successful and responsible international energy companies. This makes them quite strong in their operations base and marks the strength of their strategy for further growth. Gazprom is constantly pursuing its business globalization strategy, and actively increasing the supply to the entire globe for its gas production.  In 2006, the company supplied liquefied natural gas to the UK, Japan and Korea for the first time.  

The Concept Of Teaching Practicum

The Concept Of Teaching Practicum Teaching practicum concerns preparation of teachers and its use has embraced all the learning experiences of student teachers in schools. The purpose of reviewing related literature is to explore ideas of teaching practicum. This review will discuss three main ideas, namely, overview of the concept of beliefs and teaching practicum, theoretical framework and related research studies. 2.1 The concept of teaching practicum Teaching practicum is almost universally accepted today as the climax of a teachers professional preparation in pre-service teacher education programs. According to the studies of Gower Walters (1983), the teaching practice programme is the major essential component in professional education. Teaching practicum is defined as those periods of continuous practice twelve weeks (depends on the particular teacher training college or university) in school constitute an obligatory part of the course in colleges or universities of education. This period of practical experience is also called by various term, clinical experience, student teaching, teaching practice as well as practicum. During the teaching practicum, student teacher conducts classroom lessons and performs the duties of a teacher in school. According to the Teacher Training Division Guidelines on practicum for pre-service teacher training (2005), teaching practicum provide opportunities for student teacher to practice theories in teaching and learning practices and to develop individual teaching and learning theories. The main aim of teaching practicum is to produce effective school teachers and not merely classroom teacher. Student teachers are also provided with opportunities for a variety of encounters with children in schools. This means that student teachers are not only know how to teach effectively in class but are also able to handle co-curricular activities as well. In short, teaching practicum programme is to equip future teachers with the essential experiences which can lead to the development of their professional competencies. Teaching practicum aims for student teachers to master and practice all the concepts, principles, skills and values in order to become a professional teacher. 2.2 What is belief ? According to Michaela Borg (2001), belief is a proposition which may consciously or unconsciously held, is evaluative in that it is accepted as true by the individual, and there imbued with emotive commitment; further, it serves as guide to thought and bahaviour. On the other hand, Fishbein and Ajzen (1975) define belief as information, factual, and nonfactual cognitions. Cognition is described as what someone knows or assumes to be true (Berkowitz, 1980, p. 275). No matter what is ones belief, the beliefs still play an important role in many aspects of teaching, as well as in life. It is because these beliefs help individuals make sense of the world, influencing how new information in perceived, and whether it is accepted or rejected. Nevertheless, beliefs differ from knowledge, although they are related to each other, in that beliefs do not always represent the truth. Beliefs are not only considered as discipline-dependent (Tsai, 2002), but beliefs also include understandings, assumptions, images or propositions that are felt to be true (Kagan, 1992 Richardson, 1996). 2.3 Theoretical framework 2.3.1 Teachers Beliefs Shulman (1986) claimed that a teacher needs to know about the subject matter, to know a variety of general instructional strategies, and to know about the specific strategies necessary for teaching particular subject matter. Most of us would also agree that the good teacher transforms curriculum goals and guidelines in such a way that a particular student is able to master and understand the related content. Dan Lortie states that ones personal predispositions are not only relevant but, in fact, stand at the core of becoming a teacher. Teachers belief is a term usually used to refer to teachers pedagogic beliefs, or those beliefs of relevance to an individual teaching. The areas most commonly explored are teachers beliefs about teaching, learning, and learners; subject matter; self as a teacher, or the role of a teacher (Calderhead, 1995). Besides that, teachers beliefs do play a central role in the process of teacher development. Those beliefs form part of the process of understanding how teachers conceptualize their work as a teacher. Tattos (1996, p. 155) important work on beliefs concluded lay cultural norms among enrollees are strongly ingrained and that most teacher education, as it is currently structured, is a weak intervention to alter particular views regarding the teaching and management of diverse learners. Another study shows that a persons belief system has pervasive effects in different spheres of activity- ideological, conceptual, perceptual, and esthetic (Rokeach, 1960, p. 288). In addition, Brown found that certain philosophical beliefs and educational beliefs were effective in predicting agreement-disagreement with experimentalism of classroom practice. Indications were that professed educational beliefs had a generalized effect on teaching behavior; specific fundamental beliefs were most powerful in influencing specific classroom behaviors (Brown Webb, 1968, p. 215). To support those beliefs, Clark and Peterson (1986) proposed that: The most resilient or core teachers beliefs are formed on the basis of teachers own schooling as young students while observing teachers who taught them. Subsequent teacher education appears not to disturb these early beliefs, not least, perhaps, because it rarely addresses them. If teachers actually try out a particular innovation which does not initially conform to their prior beliefs or principles and the innovation proves helpful or successful, then accommodation of an alternative belief or principle is more possible than in any other circumstance. For the notice teacher, classroom experience and day to day interaction with colleagues has the potential to influence particular relationships among beliefs and principles, and, over time, consolidate the individuals permutation of them. Nevertheless, it seems that greater experience does not lead to greater adaptability in our beliefs and, thereby, the abandonment of strongly held pedagogic principles. Quite the contrary in fact. The more experience we have, the more reliant on our core principles we have become and the less conscious we are doing so. Professional development which engages teachers in a direct exploration if their beliefs and principles may provide the opportunity for greater self-awareness through reflection and critical questioning as starting points for later adaptation. The teachers conceptualizations of, for example, language, learning, and teaching are situated within that persons wider belief system concerning such issues as human nature, culture, society, education and so on. Consequently, teachers belief about the importance of teaching have a great impact on their teaching practices (Salmon, 1988). The next section will look at teachers belief about teaching practicum. 2.3.2 Teachers belief about teaching practicum The term practicum is used generically to refer to the different types of school attachment; namely, school experience, teaching assistantship, teaching practice and so forth that pre-service students will be undergoing as part their initial teacher preparation programme. The school-based practicum is designed to enable student teachers to observe a teachers real work of work, and to apply and refine the knowledge and skills acquired through course-work in classroom teaching. Student teachers are to use the opportunities during the practicum to integrate education theory and practice and to widen their practical experiences. In the context of teaching practicum, a student teacher is expected to apply what they have learned theoretically. To maximize the utility of practicum, it is important that teacher trainers actively promote the effective learning during the practicum period. Effective learning should be concerned with the learning of organized wholes of knowledge. It is a process that involves developing the ability to identify the objectives one is seeking and, within a flexible framework, optimizing a programme to meet these objectives, in line with individual learning attributes. Effective learning also needs to achieve transference of knowledge from the artificiality of a training course, to practical application where the trainees adapts acquired knowledge to the perceived needs of a particular problem or situation (Robotham, 2003). Many researches claim that teaching practicum is a central element in most pre-service teacher education programmes. Many also debates about the assessment of the practice of student teachers often reflect ongoing philosophical debates about the nature of teacher education (Brown, 1996) and traditional barriers between teachers and academics (Groundwater-Smith, 1997). A set of written criteria used to assess the competence of pre-service secondary teacher education students during practicum. The dimensions of the assessment protocol did not appear to be based on any articulated theory of good teaching practice, and there were significant doubts about the extent to which the various groups of stakeholders had a shared understanding of the standards implied in the criteria. In education what we label as standards are socially constructed and frequently fuzzy (Sadler, 1987) and require the shared understanding of a construct in a community of practice (Wiliam, 1996). 2.4 Related Research Studies 2.4.1 Pre-service teachers beliefs about teaching practicum Prior to actual teaching experiences, pre-service teachers derive their initial views on teaching from at least two sources. Firstly, it comes from their personal experiences as students, consisting of their interactions with and exposures to various teachers throughout their school life, with such factors having a tendency to influence their reasons for career choice, as well as beliefs and practices on their professional lives (Ben-Petetz, 2003; Bramald, Hardman, Leat, 1995; Saban, 2003). Secondly, it results from pre-service teachers forming their conceptual repertoires as they undergo the formal training provided by teacher educational programs (Bermald, 1995; Dunkin, Precian, Nettle, 1994; Nettle, 1998), initially consisting of theoretical knowledge through foundation and methods courses, and eventually progressing or culminating into the application of such theories via the so-called practice teaching. Few studies have been done in pre-service teachers. The following assumptions are fundamental to a justification of practice as a part of the training of teachers: Teaching is behavior, and as behavior is subject to analysis, change, and improvement. Much of the habitual behavior which individuals have developed in other contexts is inappropriate for the teaching situation. Under present conditions, much teaching is conducted under conditions of stress. Teaching is an extremely complex kind of behavior, involving the full range of thought processes, communication and physical action. Teachers, through practice can learn to analyze, criticize and control their own teaching behavior. Practice has the dual purpose of training and the elimination of the unfit. Practice provides the experience which gives meaning to many other aspects of instruction in education (teaching). The beliefs of pre-service TESL teachers have may merit their own exploration. These beliefs may influence students in acquisition of knowledge, selection and definition of specific teaching tasks, and interpretation of knowledge, and interpretation of course content. Puchta (1999) asserts that beliefs are guiding principles of our students behavior and strong perceptual filtersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ they act as if they were true. On the other hand, Dunkin (1994) claims that how student-teachers views on teaching may be influenced by formal teaching practicum programme. Kennedy (1996) hypothesizes that real and effective change in teachers practices can only occur through a change in their beliefsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ the way teachers behave.