Developing Metacognitive Strategies of Future Teachers in the French System of Higher Education

Abstract The article analyzes the trends in teacher education development with the aim to improve the system of education in Ukraine. The need to improve professional training of future teachers taking into account metacognitive learning strategies is emphasized. The main way of enhancing efficiency of professional knowledge acquisition is defined to be metacognitive processes. The study of psychopedagogical literature shows variety and diversity of scientific approaches to undestanding the essence of metacognitions. It is indicated that the implementation of metacognitive approach is impossible, unless the student possesses the knowledge of learning strategies. When the lecturer aims to develop them in the students, learning becomes more personality-oriented and the level of learner autonomy is increased and thinking is amplified. This, in turn, is one of the most important ways to develop self-study skills. Foreign educational science singles out three groups of learning strategies such as cognitive, socially affective and metacognitive (being the main element of educational actions). The methods of metacognitive learning in higher education institutions in France are analyzed. The metacognitive learning pattern of note-taking is defined as to be most practice-oriented. It consists of such stages as contextualization, decontextualization and recontextualization. The analysis of training programmes for future teachers proves that the implementation of metacognitive programmes into practice of higher teacher education in France is based on the following two processes: either their full assimilation with the already existing syllabi, or the expansion of syllabi with the specialized course of study in metacognitive learning. Therefore, these programmes urge lecturers to realize that under modern conditions it is necessary to switch to metalearning. Students are assisted in creating a list of competences and knowledge and are aware of the need to enhance them in the future. The analysis of metacognitive programmes for professional training of future teachers in France concludes that lecturers aim to develop future teachers’ ability to self-analyze and self-assess learning activities.

INTRODUCTION
Educational reforms promote revision of the education process models, which should meet modern requirements. The National Strategy for Education Development in Ukraine until 2021 describes the main trends, priorities and mechanisms for implementing the state education policy, the structure and content of the education system, which requires high-quality training of future specialists. Taking into consideration the fact that a component of self-directed study is increasing, it is imperative to ensure its effective organization in relation to professional training of future teachers. Nowadays, higher 8(4)/2018 Comparative Professional Pedagogy 8(4)/2018 education institutions lack sufficient capacity in this regard. The analysis of studies on the raised problem shows that some European Union countries, in particular France, have applied metacognitive approach to teaching and created the conditions, which are necessary for creative activities of learners and allow them to engage in self-improvement and selfrealization. To this end, there appears to be the need study some European trends in teacher education development with the aim to improve the education system in Ukraine.

THE AIM OF THE STUDY
The aim of the study consists in analyzing the experience of developing metacognitive strategies of future teachers in higher education institutions in France and outlining relevant recommendations to im THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND RESEARCH METHODS Theoretical framework of the current study consists of the findings by Ukrainian While researching, the following methods were used: analysis, synthesis, comparison, generalization with the aim to study scientific literature and compare the scholars' views on the content of the defined concepts.

RESULTS
The study of psychopedagogical sources proves variety and diversity of scientific approaches to undestanding the essence of metacognition as a special cognitive process, which enables the individual to analyze his/her own cognitive activity (J. Flavell); a specific activity which enables the individual to evaluate and monitor his/her own learning progress (A. Brown); some mental structures that systematically control information processing and organize the individual's intellectual activity (M. Kholodna); meta-systemic cognitive processes, which enable the individual to perceive his/her subjective reality, inner world (A. Karpov) (Adonieva, 2017).
Upgrading teacher education calls for creating some new schemes aimed at developing metacognitive skills and, eventually, shaping the teacher's educational and professional style (Adonieva, 2017).
It is impossible to implement metacognitive approach, unless the individual possess some knowledge of learning strategies. The concept of "strategy" is common in many fields. It is characterized by an agreement between specific traits of the coordinator of processes according to the aim of the activity. Therefore, strategy is one of the main factors in achieving success in any activity. O. Malykhin & A. Halla (2016) state that learning strategies are considered to be a set of actions, steps, plans, rountines, which assist the student in obtaining, preserving, accessing and using information.
Foreign educational science defines learning strategies as subjective and intellectual actions through which the learner can enhance perception of educational material and singles out three groups of learning strategies. They are the following: 1) cognitive learning strategies -conscious ways of organizing learning such as note-taking, selection of scientific sources (e.g. dictionaries), revision, drawing of parallels, memorization of terms and key concepts; 2) socially affective learning strategies -learning through interaction, information exchange (e.g. peer interaction, collaboration tasks, counselling); 3) metacognitive learning strategies assist the student in planning, organizing and controlling his/her learning as well as analyzing his/her own achievements (Cohen, 2011).
When the lecturer aims to develop learning strategies in the students, learning becomes more personality-oriented and the level of learner autonomy is increased and thinking is amplified. Therefore, it is rather imperative to teach students to design their own optimal learning strategies since it is one of the main trends in the development of learning autonomy. M. Romainville (1993) views metacognitive strategies as the main element of educational actions. The studies conducted among first-year students have shown that it takes little time to improve students' learning skills and adapt them to a new context, thereby increasing the efficiency of self-According to M. Romainville (1993), the student who seeks to be able to control his/her own learning activities must understand and contextualize his/her learning style. Academic success also depends on his/her ability to analyze certain cognitive strategies and factors influencing their implementation, as well as his/her ability to adapt the strategies to personal characteristics and characteritics of learning activities (p. 4). On the one hand, learning involves using these strategies to control cognitive processes. On the other hand, learning is also a result, since the students' use of these strategies should result in modified knowledge as a cognitive structure for long-term memorization.
M. Romainville (1993) indicates that knowledge modification can be achieved: -through different changes such as adding of new information to previously acquired knowledge and, as a result, its restructuring, elimination of some knowledge, emergence of new connections within knowledge; -depending on a type of transformed knowledge; -depending on a level of transformed knowledge perception (Romainville 9). B.-M. Barth (1987) believes that students who passively receive knowledge will never be able to engage in self-directed study (pp. 35-70). When designing a model for developing metacognitions, the scholar discovered that their own underdevelopment could be explained by lack of knowledge among students at the level of abstraction. Therefore, B.-M. Barth designed a metacognitive model of learning situation, which took into account the chronology of metacognitive actions and involved three stages. Stage 1 is aimed at conceptualization of an educational problem and reflection on students' results, so that they can familiarize themselves with some effective ways of performing learning tasks. First, students should put forward some hypotheses, which are subject to verification. After that, they learn how to formulate a general idea taking into account the examples produced by the lecturer. Students are also taught how to distinguish some characteristics of phenomena, compare them and eliminate insignificant ones. In such a way, they learn how to classify the examples according to certain criteria.
Stage 2 control the accuracy of problem conceptualization with new examples. In case of the collision of perceptions, the cognitive conflict is more valuable than "a ready response". Students' recognition of mistakes becomes a source of metacognitive development.  (Barth, 1987). This model, however, lacks group work, which is important in developing core competencies of a modern teacher.
The metacognitive learning pattern of note-taking suggested by M. Romainville and B. Noël (1998) is defined as to be most practice-oriented. It consists of the following stages: -contextualization. The authentic nature of learning situation (taking notes, keeping a record of the meeting, making an abstract of learning materials) requires that students should wisely choose learning strategies. Such an activity is cosidered to be metacognitive if the student can comprehend the essence of his/her actions, analyze his/her notes, compare them with those of other students, justify his/her choice of the strategy.
-decontextualization. The first element of this stage is metacognitive pause, which takes place during note-taking or directly after its completion. The student analyzes the used strategies, reflects on the result, as well as the criteria for evaluating the activity, identifies some persistent features of these strategies.
-recontextualization. This stage should facilitate the application of previously acquired skills under new learning situations. The student should be able to define whether these skills are effectively applied. The main task of this stage is to teach students how to use these skills and microcompetences when performing new learning tasks. Thus, the suggested model proves that developent and use of knowledge require that students should organize their own thinking activity (Kazimirskaya, & Torkhova, 2002, p. 78).
French scholars state that self-directed study can be effective if the lecturer is able to establish goal-setting, plan learning activities, provide students with effective assistance and evaluate their results (Leselbaum, Bonne-Dulibine, & Grosjean, p. 20). Therefore, students should be able to use various knowledge, predict the results of learning actions and self-assess (assess) learning activities.
L. Lafortune and L. Saint-Pierre (1998) believe that metacognitive and affective learning can be effective if students are involved into active learning. Indeed, if the lecturer allocates 8-10 % of total learning time to metacognitive training, probability of success increases ( -39). The programme of metacognitive learning should contain some common activities not to disrupt the rhythm of the education process. However, the lecturer who wants to improve his/her own style should introduce pedagogical innovations.
The analysis of training programmes for future teachers proves that the implementation of metacognitive programmes into practice of higher teacher education in France is based on the following two processes: either their full assimilation with the already existing syllabi, or the expansion of syllabi with the specialized course of study in metacognitive learning.
De Vecci designed a special course for students to help them organize their selfdirected study at interdisciplinary level, which is based on the author's pattern of knowledge creation. It consists of four modules, namely research module (familiarization with an educational problem), concept module (acquisition of experience in structuring knowledge), knowledge generalization and verification module, knowledge application (De Vecci, & Carmona-Magnaldi, 1996, p. 202).
J.-L. Wolfs designed a programme for future teachers based on metacognitive approach. The programme aims to teach students metacognitive reflection, metacognitive strategies and time managament, which is necessary for effective organization and implementation of self-directed study. The author took into account cognitive, affective and 8(4)/2018 Comparative Professional Pedagogy 8(4)/2018 metacognitive factors, the latter being able to prevent narrow specialization of professional teacher training. In accordance with the pattern for metacognitive teaching of note-taking, J.-L. Wolfs designed the following plan of self-directed study: 1) the lecturer offers students to make an abstract of the lecture; 2) the lecturer analyzes students' results and encourages them to explain how they organized their learning activities. This makes it possible to specify whether students applied the same or different methods while performing learning tasks. Students are also offered to independently design the criteria for evaluation and self-evaluation of results; 3) the lecturer assists students in mastering the note-taking method; 4) the lecturer offers students some exercises and means, which can help them to improve some skills. Each student is involved into metacognitive pause to comprehend his/her own achievements and overcome difficulties; 5) the lecturer can choose the mode of programme application (individual or group counselling; individual classes or the whole course; individual work, pair work, group work, etc.) (Romainville, 1998).
Therefore, these programmes urge lecturers to realize that under modern conditions it is necessary to switch to metalearning. Students are assisted in creating a list of competences and knowledge and are aware of the need to enhance them in the future. The analysis of metacognitive programmes for professional training of future teachers in France concludes that lecturers aim to develop future teachers' ability to self-analyze and self-assess learning activities.
CONCLUSIONS Therefore, the application of metacognitive strategies for learning organization and self-directed study of students creates some optimal conditions for them to demonstrate their skills and to become active participants in the education process. The conducted analysis of metacognitive component in teacher training programmes in France proves that its system of higher teacher education is characterized by theoretically and methodically justified educational practice aimed at developing metacognitions of students (the ability to plan, organize and control their own activities based on metacognitive strategies).
The experience of using metacognitive strategies in training future teachers in higher education systems of some European Union countries can be taken into account in by Ukrainian educators. The already existing developments insufficiently cover the specificity of professional training of natural sciences teachers and should be more widely researched.


The Effect of PQ4R Strategy and Intellectual Intelligence on Higher Thinking Ability in Mathematics in Elementary Schools

This study aims to determine (1) the influence of PQ4R strategy on higher order thinking skills, (2) the influence of Intellectual Intelligence on HigherOrder Thinking Ability, (3) to see the interaction between learning strategies and intellectual intelligence, this type of research is experimental research with design Experimental research design. The sample in this study is the Vc class as the experimental class and Vd class as the control class in At-Taubah Islamic Elementary School, Jakarta. Data collection method is done by test, the initial test is done to classify the level of intelligence, in this case, is done using the CFIT test, then the results are divided into two levels, namely intellectual intelligence high and intellectual intelligence on average, always given action with the PQ4R strategy and strategy expository. posttests are given to measure high-level thinking skills, with Mathematics questions designed by researchers following Olympic and TIMSS questions, which are then expertly Expected. The results of the high-level thinking skills test are then analyzed by prerequisite tests which include, normality test, homogeneity test, and Anava test. Based on the results of data analysis obtained a significant influence on the application of the PQ4R strategy to higher-order thinking skills than the expository strategy of fifth grade students of At-Taubah Islamic Elementary School, there is a significant influence on high intellectual intelligence on higher-order thinking skills than average intellectual intelligence average fifth grade students of At-Taubah Islamic Elementary School, then there is no interaction between learning strategies and intellectual intelligence on high-level thinking skills of class V students of At-Taubah Elementary School.

Higher Level Thinking Ability
High order thinking skills are defined as the broad use of the mind to find new challenges. Introducing high-level thinking skills that have five levels of thinking such as remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing and evaluating even though this taxonomy was revised by Anderson and Krathwohl with the addition of one more level with the ability to create (Anderson, et al: 2001). High-level thinking ability is a thinking process that involves mental activities in an effort to explore complex, reflective and creative experiences that are carried out consciously to achieve goals, namely acquiring knowledge that includes the level of thinking analyzing, evaluating and creating. (Heong, Y.M: 2011).
Marzano's research in Yee, M. H., Widad et al about the ability to think is very important for students and educators in universities especially. Marzano identified 13 high-level thinking abilities, namely comparing, classifying, inducing, inferring, error analysis, making support, prospective analysis, abstract, decision making, investigation, problem-solving, experimental inquiry, and discovery (Yee, M. H. et. al: 2013). Kruger K in Shukla This high-level thinking ability involves "concept formation, critical thinking, creativity/brainstorming, problem-solving, mental representation, the use of rules, reasoning and logical thinking (Shukla, D : 2016) Meanwhile, according to King in Wajeeh Daher, higher-order thinking skills include thinking, logic, being able to reflect, relating to metacognition and the ability to think creatively (Wajeeh Daheer, et.al: 2017). Based on the opinions of the experts above, the ability to think creatively is part of high-level thinking skills. Creative thinking is one way to be a creative person. Creative thinking, as the name implies is thinking in order to find original ideas or new things (Dharma Kusuma, et.al : 2010).
Torrance argues in Dharma Kusuma that creative thinking is:"A process of being sensitive to or aware of problems, shortcomings, and gaps in knowledge for which no solution is learned; bring along available information from a memory warehouse or external sources; defining difficulties or identifying missing elements; look for solutions-solutions; suspect, create alternatives to solve problems, test and retest these alternatives; perfect it and finally communicate the results (Dennis K. Filsaime:2008). From some of the opinions above the researcher limits the ability to think high based on Bloom's taxonomy that has been revised by Anderson, namely the ability to think analytically, evaluate and think creatively.

Intellectual Intelligence
The aspects of the mind that underlie our ability to think, to solve problems, by providing real reason and knowledge (M. Anderson: 2006). Intelligence is the power to quickly find an adequate solution in solving problems that arise and become a very broad solution search space(D. Lenat and E. Feigenbaum: 1991) The MASEM results confirm that the classroom, psychological and intellectual characteristics of students have a direct effect on HOTS (Prayoonsri Budsankom: 2015). Studies show that performance on intelligence tests correlates with school performance (Ritu Chandra & Sheikh Azimmudin : 2013).

PQ4R Learning Strategy
The PQ4R strategy was developed by Thomas and Robinson The PQ4R steps consist of reading sultans, asking, reading, reflecting, reading, and reviewing, this strategy is student-centered which helps increase student involvement in learning ((Thomas, E. L., & Robinson, H. A. : 2014). PQ4R is one popular strategy to enable students to understand and maintain what they read. This is a strategy that makes it easy for students to emphasize organizing knowledge and making it effective (Slavin,R.E : 2008). PQ4R Strategy is an efficient strategy that facilitates and engages students during the learning process (Pehofer, et. al: 2003). PQ4R asks readers to give answers and reflect on questions during their journey of reading this way students are attentive throughout learning activities (Dunn, S. Dana: 2006).

Expository Learning Strategy
The term expository is a form of teacher-oriented approach (Prayekti: 2016). According to Roy Killen in Sumantri expository learning is direct learning (direct instruction). In this system, the teacher presents the material in a form that has been prepared in a neat, systematic and complete manner so that students just listen and digest it regularly and orderly. Students are also required to master the material that has been conveyed. The steps in implementing a learning strategy are preparation, presentation, linking, concluding and applying (Syarif Sumantri : 2016).
The same opinion also expressed by Akinbobola and Afolabi defines that expository learning is direct learning which is a practice of constructivism where student achievement is preferred (Afolabi F., Akinbobola A.O: 2009). While Iheonu identified that in the expository learning process the teacher talked about knowledge and students read about that knowledge (Ibe, H: 2013).

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This type of research is experimental research with design This experimental research design uses a 2x2 treatment by level design. In the design the independent variable is formed into two sides, namely the first side of the variable treatment with the preview question strategy read reflect recite review (PQ4R) and expository learning strategy (A), the second side is attributed independent variable that is intellectual intelligence classified into two, namely high and low ( B). the sample in this study is the V C class as the experimental class and the class and V d class as the control class. Data collection method is done by test, the initial test is done to classify the level of intelligence, in this case, is done using the CFIT test, then the results are divided into two levels, namely high intellectual intelligence and intellectual intelligence on average, always given action with the PQ4R strategy and strategy expository. posttests are given to measure high-level thinking skills, with Mathematics questions designed by researchers following Olympic and TIMSS questions, which are then expertly Expected. The results of the high-level thinking skills test are then analyzed by prerequisite tests which include, normality test, homogeneity test, and Anova test.  Based on the results of the analysis of variance (ANOVA) of the two pathways above, the hypothesis testing can be explained as follows:

First Hypothesis
The difference in higher-order thinking skills in students taught with the PQ4R learning strategy is higher than that of students taught with expository learning strategies. Based on the ANOVA calculation above, it can be seen that the significant value of data is 0.000 <significant value of 0.05, thus H 0 is rejected and the alternative hypothesis H 1 is accepted, meaning that the hypothesis states that there is a difference in higherorder thinking skills between the two groups of students taught with the PQ4R learning strategy and taught with the expository learning strategy as a whole proved to be significant. This PQ4R learning strategy has been examined by Asrean Hendi from the results of their research which states that there is an effect of PQ4R strategy on mathematical problem-solving abilities, and in this study, he uses expository learning strategies as a control class (Asrean Hendi: 2017). The PQ4R strategy has also been used by B.A. Omoteso and F. A. Sadiku, from the results of their research, concluded that the PQ4R strategy is effective in improving student performance in Chemistry (B.A. Omoteso and F. A. Sadiku: 2013). Subsequent research conducted by Ruqia Bibi showed that scholastic achievements of groups of students taught through the PQ4R learning strategy and groups taught through traditional methods were the same before action. But the scholastic achievement (ability related to logic) of the groups taught through the PQ4R study strategy and from the groups taught through traditional methods differed significantly after the PQ4R action was taken (Ruqia Bibi & Manzoor H. Arif: 2018).

Second hypothesis
Differences in higher-order thinking skills in students who have an high and average level of intellectual intelligence. Based on the ANOVA calculation above, it can be seen that the significant value of data is 0.000 < significant value 0.05, thus H 0 is rejected and the alternative hypothesis H 1 is accepted, meaning that the hypothesis states that there is a difference in high-level thinking ability between the two groups of students who have intellectual intelligence high and students who have average intellectual intelligence have proven to have a significant influence. This is in line with research conducted by Ritu Chandra and Sheikh Azimmudin stating that the results showed that intelligence affects students' academic achievement, Children with High IQ have better academic achievement than children with an Average IQ. (

Third hypothesis
The interaction between learning strategies and intellectual intelligence on higher-order thinking skills (INTAXB). ANOVA calculation results can be seen that the results of testing the third hypothesis presented in ANAVA table obtained F value of IQ * SP = 0.008 with a significance value of 0.928> 0.05 or H 0 is received based on value, thus it can be stated that there is no significant interaction effect between learning strategies and intellectual intelligence of students towards higher-order thinking skills. Summary of the results of data calculation through 2x2 ANAVA can be seen in Figure as follows: Based on the picture above, it can be seen that the average score of high-level thinking ability in each learning strategy treatment with intellectual intelligence does not intersect. This shows that there is no interaction between the two variables, namely learning strategies with intellectual intelligence on higher-order thinking skills, meaning that these two factors only affect the ability to think high-level individually. This finding is supported by research conducted by (Prayoonsri Budsankom et al: 2015) The results of his study confirm that the classroom environment which includes learning strategies, the way teachers teach and spatial planning and intellectual characteristics of students have a direct effect on HOTS (96.8% explained variance).

CONCLUSION
Higher-order thinking skills of students taught with PQ4R learning strategies are higher than high-level thinking skills taught by expository learning strategies. Intellectual intelligence above average has a significant effect on higher-order thinking skills than students who have average intelligence. There is no significant interaction between learning strategies and intellectual intelligence on higher-order thinking skills.


Database Strategy in Development of Digital Ecosystem for Quality Control in Education

The purpose of this research in educational environment is to improve the quality of the educational process with the help of new information technologies. The paper examines practical issues of digital ecosystems implementation in education on the basis of relational databases, as, from the authors’ point of view, in the organization data are less subject to change in time than business processes. Therefore the strategy of information systems development where the database functions as a cornerstone provides the result, that is more stable than, for example, a functional approach in software development. Within the frames of this research information technologies of quality control in education are being created. They are intended for the exact and full representation of teaching materials as a system used as a source of information for the assessment of learning and teaching materials and creation of electronic resources on this platform. The structure of the created database, operation practices and topical issues of its introduction in more large-scale digital ecosystems are considered. As a result the database ready for use as a management solution for higher education institutions is created. This is important as information technologies provide additional opportunities for the development in the sphere of higher education, quality improvement of the educational process. The authors conclude that introduction of innovative information technologies in management system of higher education institution is relevant and perspective.

Introduction
Development of an effective education system is an invariable priority of State policy.
At the present moment, the problem of development and deployment of new technologies based on the methods which increase the efficiency and quality of educational process [1][2][3] is very important as information technologies penetrated into all fields of human activity. This will create opportunities for supplying all branches of the national economy with the qualified employees.
The auxiliary software is widely used for the educational purposes. Moreover, there have appeared learning management systems, such as Moodle, SharePointLMS [4,5]. However some spheres of management in education still wait for professional developers, in particular the provision of learning and teaching materials [6,7].
Besides, the importance of higher education in modern society requires using valid and reliable instruments to measure the quality of education [8,9].
Reforms in the field of higher education, implementation of innovative technologies to educational process will cause renewal of the traditional strategy of management, its transformation into a new, more flexible, capable to adapt to changing external and internal conditions. Now the information system of the enterprise is developed as a project. Project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to change a particular system. It has specific goals and their achievement means the end of the project which should be executed over a fixed period and within certain cost, resources, risks and organizational structure.
The process of creating an effective information system includes several stages: -data collection and analysis; -database design and implementation (creation of domain model, logical and physical design); -generating user interface to work with the existing database and visual representation of information.
The development of such a system is considered in this paper. One of the main stages in the design process was study of problem domain and creation of hierarchical domain model. The domain model has declarative character; in fact, it is the knowledge base about the object of research that is used to formalize the representation of an object (task) and analyze requirements for the modeling system (solution). The declarative character of domain model does not impose restrictions on the subsequent choice of the model type for the creation of separate components of the system under study and interactions between them. The purpose of this model is to create exact and full representation of teaching materials as a system used as a source of information for the assessment of learning and teaching materials and further design of the database.
The work of the faculty responsible for methodical support of educational process has been defined as a problem domain.
"The Curriculum", "The Federal State Educational Standard of Higher Education" and "The provision of learning and teaching materials" were used as source documents to generate the subject domain model.

Logical database model
For the development of desired software product it is necessary to consider such concepts as "model" and "domain model".
A model is a representation or copy of an object (process, phenomenon) reproducing the features and properties of a genuine object, that are the most essential in relation to the outcomes the user is interested in.
A domain model represents the key concepts of the problem domain and identifies the relationships among all of the entities within the scope of the domain.
The alternative description of the considered problem domain can be represented as follows: -the faculty comprises the departments; -the department is composed of the teaching staff; -the department offers Bachelor's degree programs designed to prepare students for a variety of careers in the field; -training is provided in accordance with the curriculum; -the curriculum is based on the Federal State Educational Standard of Higher Education; -the Course Syllabus is developed in accordance with the curriculum; -the Course Syllabus has to be registered by its developer -the teacher who provides the course; -each course should be provided with the Instructional Practice Guidelines for the completion of this or that type of tasks.
On the basis of data obtained it is possible to create a visual model of problem domain as presented in figure 1.
On the stage of database, logical design the problem consists in representing the domain model of problem domain in the data model supported by DBMS chosen for the system creation. For this research, Microsoft Access has been used to create the database. In order to understand the system it is necessary to identify domain entities and their relationships. An entity is a system component specifically intended for modeling an object, process or phenomenon of the problem domain to be stored. A point of distinction should be made between entity types and entity instances.
An entity type defines a set of entities that have the same attributes. An entity instance is a single item in this set.
An attribute is a characteristic of an entity object. The unique identifier of an entity is an attribute or a set of attributes, distinguishing any entity instance from other instances of the same type. Attributes describe each entity and identify entity instances.
Relationship is the graphic representation of associations established between two entities. Degree of relationship refers to the number of entity types that participate in the relationship, i.e. relationship between two entities is called binary. If a relationship connects three entities, it is called ternary or "3-ary." If a relationship connects three or more entities (n entities), it is called an "n-ary" relationship. Most relationship sets in a database system are binary.
The rules of drawing an entity-relationship diagram for the information system created within this research can be described as follows: a) each faculty can comprise several departments. Each department can belong to one faculty only. There are faculties which do not have any department, but there are no departments which do not belong to any faculty; b) each department can offer several undergraduate degree programs, each program belongs to one department only. There are departments which do not offer undergraduate degree programs, but there are no undergraduate degree programs which do not belong to any department; c) each department employs several teachers, but each teacher can be employed by one department only. There are no departments which do not employ any teaching staff; there are no teachers who are not employed by any department; d) each undergraduate degree program can have several curricula, each curriculum belongs to one undergraduate degree program. There are no undergraduate degree programs which do not have any curriculum and there are no curricula which do not belong to any undergraduate degree program; e) each curriculum is based on at least one federal state educational standard of higher education, each federal state educational standard can regulate several curricula. There are no curricula which are not regulated by federal state educational standard of higher education and there are no federal state educational standards of higher education which do not regulate any curriculum; f) each curriculum makes the bases for the development of several course syllabuses, each syllabus is based on a particular curriculum. There are no curricula which do not have syllabuses and there are no syllabuses which are not specified by a curriculum; g) each teacher can develop several syllabuses, each syllabus is developed by one teacher. There are syllabuses which are not registered by a teacher; however there are no teachers who haven't developed any syllabus; h) each syllabus should contain several Instructional Practice Guidelines to fulfill this or that type of tasks for different kinds of high school classes, each Instructional Practice Guidelines has to belong to one course only. There are no syllabuses which do not have any Instructional Practice Guidelines, and there shouldn't be any Instructional Practice Guidelines which do not belong to any syllabus.
In order to study and understand the problem domain the rules discussed above were implemented. This has allowed us to identify relationships that exist between the entities. Entities, relationships, type of participation and degree of relationship are specified in Table 1. The relational data model of problem domain represents a set of relationships which allows storing data and modeling the relations between them.
With specially formulated set of rules, it is possible to generate the relation schema of relational data model on the basis of domain model. There is a rule that if the degree of binary relationship is equal to 1:n and the type of participation is mandatory, then it is enough to use two relationships: one for each entity, provided that the entity key serves as the primary unique identifier for each entity instance, the key of contiguous entity has to be added as an attribute to the relationship for n-tuply connected entity.
3) The department is composed of the teaching staff. The other attribute relationships are created with the nonkey attributes taking into account that they are single valued. Then data model is normalized to Boyce Codd Normal Form (BCNF).
The At a phase of logical design the logical structure of database corresponding to logical model of problem domain is developed. The logical level of data modeling using Erwin provides several levels of representation: Entity, Relationship, Unique Identifier and other Attributes.
Logical structure of relational database is generated at the end of the process of database logical modeling. For this purpose the elements of type, data size, uniqueness, type of participation are set for each attribute.
During the physical design process, data gathered during the logical design phase are converted into a description of the physical database. The physical model depends on a particular DBMS as there no standards for database objects.
The Erwin Data Modeler used to create the information system "Teaching materials" provides the processes of forward and inverse modeling that considerably reduces the time for detection and correction of errors and obtaining approval for a prototype from the customer.
When we use Erwin Data Modeler on the physical level views are created. These views are the database objects in which data are not constantly stored as in a table and the result sets are produced dynamically from queries. Application of views allows the developer to provide each user with the ability to treat data differently, that solves the problems of usability and data security.
Among other functions, Erwin provides with the ability to estimate the approximate size of the database, tables, index data and other objects in a certain period of time after the beginning of operation.
Thus, entities and attributes of the problem domain were identified on the bases of functional specification required for the project development "Teaching materials" for Bachelor`s degree program "Software engineering" and University Curricula documents. The data model and the database were created.

Digital ecosystem
Implementation of information technologies for quality control in education has shown that in conditions of digital economy when all stakeholders of educational process (students, teachers, parents, potential employers, academic authorities, etc.) have the right to control and, as a rule, exercise it, a digital ecosystem has to become a foundation for the development of IT infrastructure at the conceptual level.
At the moment there is no unambiguous and standard understanding of this concept, therefore it is possible to define this biometaphor for a software system through the description of its functions and abilities: ˗ decentralization -the ability of a system to continue at the same level of performance even though one or more components have failed, thus it is important for a system to be fault-tolerant, i.e., have functions and resources distributed between several elements; ˗ adaptability -the ability of a software system created to improve its parameters under the influence of external environment, first of all -stakeholders in the sphere of professional education; ˗ openness -the ability of a system to interact continuously with the external environment, this interaction can take, for example, the form of information or material transformations on the border with the system, in other words -transferability and compatibility with the other computer systems; ˗ self-organization -the ability of a system to spontaneously arrange its elements? in a purposeful manner, using internal factors, without external specific influence (change of external conditions can have stimulating or overwhelming affect); ˗ scalability -the ability of a system to increase its total output under an increased load when resources(typically hardware) are added; ˗ stability -the ability of a system to return to its normal or stable conditions after being externally disturbed.
It should be mentioned these abilities are inherent and perennial in many social and technical systems. A digital software ecosystem should also possess specific abilities: ˗ naturalness and discreteness -the evolving software agent exists (it is not distinguished for the research purposes only). It is a system of interacting social, technical and information objects (e.g., students interacting with a software system on the hardware platform) which is functionally separated from other similar objects. Digital software ecosystems are distinct systems, so, one can speak about independent evolution of the neighboring agents; ˗ the key role of ecosystem interactions in identifying speed and direction of evolution when evolution of software agent is considered as a process of developing software upgrade.
So, it is possible to define the concepts which are essential for the generalized digital ecosystem: environment; interactions; agent; multi-agent community; evolution, as it is shown in [10] "The concept of an object is naturally (one is tempted to say, inevitably) arises in the process of evolution". As in educational institution data are less subject to change in time than business processes, the strategy of information systems development where the database functions as a cornerstone, was taken as a foundation in this research. This will provide the result, which is more stable than, for example, functional approach in software development.

Conclusion
There are serious problems with the modern educational system around the world driven by a number of factors, including those connected with changing technical environment and the amount of daily processed information. Moreover, there are other factors influencing the process of education. Both sides are interested in its computerization; those who are going to learn and gain knowledge, and those who teach.
The importance of higher education in modern society requires using valid and reliable instruments to measure the quality of education. Transformation of management system, use of innovations in education result in gradual modernization of traditional management strategy which was formed in the past taking into account new and more flexible methods and tools capable to adapt to changing external and internal conditions. The database developed can serve as an example.
In the countries of Post-Soviet Space, there is an increased demand for job candidates with at least a bachelor's degree. To satisfy this demand it is necessary to use traditional methods and new technologies to increase the quality of education.
The development of management system for higher education institution is a perspective task in ensuring quality of educational process. Ongoing efforts have to contribute notably to the development in this sphere. Encouraging development and deployment of innovative technologies in management of higher education institutions is rather important.
This task represents only the part of the great number of problems which need to be solved for computerization of education in transition to mass higher education.


Introspecting the Causes of Absenteeism of Pre-Service Teachers

Educators have recognized the importance of school attendance to learners’ academic growth and development. School attendance is often linked to positive school performance and considered as predictor of academic success. This notion makes it imperative to examine the potential causes of absenteeism to prevent students to be at risk of habitual truancy. Hence, this survey type of research determined the causes of absenteeism of teacher education students along attitude, school, and home-related factors. Twenty-three teacher education students who were purposively chosen as respondents based on their attendance record perceived attitude-related and home-related factors as highly contributory to their absenteeism. They had considered their current program not as their field of interest nor their first choice in selecting academic programs, and were also easily affected by their parents’ quarrel. Moreover, they considered school-related factors as contributory to absenteeism as the classrooms’ ventilation appeared not conducive to learning for the respondents. An intervention program strengthening the monitoring of students’ attendance is highly recommended in this study.

Introduction
Regular class attendance has been long recognized important to students' academic growth. Students' presence in classroom provided numerous opportunities for task engagements and meaningful interactions that can support the enhancement of their thinking and social skills. It is in this contention that a number of educators include attendance as part of course requirements and often remind students on this academic policy during class orientations. Handbooks on students' norms and conduct also specify consequences of habitual absenteeism and given strict implementation as part of the guidance services of educational institutions.
In tertiary education, students are expected to be conscious of their attendance in their numerous courses as it is found to be predictor of success in completing a degree. Mendoza (2016) stated that attendance significantly influenced college students' academic performance. Students who are conscious of their attendance benefit academically as they keep abreast on the lectures, learning tasks and occasional requirements in each of the courses they enrolled. Often times, students communicate conflict in schedule and priority that can lead to their absences and make arrangement with their professors to mend with the tasks or topics that the learners have missed. Despite this, alarming cases of students' habitual truancy have been encountered by educators. Yeide and Kobrin (2009) considered this unexcused chronic absences as a potential risk for students to fail and dropout from school. This often leads to undesirable results like academic incompetency, substance addiction, and criminal activity. Spradlin et al. (2012) also affirmed that students who habitually make absences are likely to dropout. Unmanageable cases of school dropout seem to result to serious problems. Malcolm et al. (2003) identified academic underachievement, poor social skills, and loss of confidence as effects of chronic absenteeism which often resulted to loss of career opportunities. This alarming situation is equated with poverty, increasing numbers of out-of-school youths, and deviant behaviors that are detrimental to society.
Commitment to school attendance is important and beneficial for students as it often relates to positive school performance and achievements. Hence, teachers are given responsibility to monitor students' attendance to avoid habitual truancy. Habitual truancy is often described as frequent absences from classes committed by students without due reasons (Yeide & Kobrin, 2009). These frequent absences predict alarming cases of academic failure, school dropout, substance addiction, and involvement in criminal activity among adolescents.
The school has the commitment to engage students to meaningful and active classroom participation to avoid absenteeism; hence, it becomes imperative to determine reasons of students' truancy from school. Once causes ier.ideasspread.org International Educational Research Vol. 1, No. 2;2018 and reasons had been identified, possible solutions or interventions can be devised and implemented to encourage students to be conscious of their attendance to their classes which can increase their opportunity for learning engagement. This increased in opportunity for learning tasks can motivate students to perform academically.
The researchers as core faculty members of the College of Teacher Education at Batangas State University JPLPC-Malvar, Batangas, Philippines identified the causes resulting to chronic absenteeism of teacher education students with the end view of proposing intervention program to minimize absenteeism among teacher education students.

Objectives of the Study
This study determined the causes of absenteeism among teacher education students at Batangas State University JPLPC-Malvar, Batangas, Philippines. Specifically, this work endeavored to determine the causes of absenteeism of the respondents in terms of attitude, school, and home-related factors that can serve as basis in proposing an intervention program to minimize teacher education students' absenteeism.

Method
This research utilized the descriptive-survey design to determine the causes of absenteeism among 23 teacher education freshmen who were officially enrolled at Batangas State University JPLPC-Malvar, Batangas, Philippines during the First Semester of Academic Year 2015-2016. These students were purposively chosen based on the reported cases of habitual absenteeism by course instructors and professors as reflected in the record of the guidance office in the campus. With the help of the guidance counselor, consent was solicited among students with reported cases of habitual truancy to participate as respondents of the study. Through the provision of consent form, students who agreed to participate were oriented on the nature of the study, and the confidentiality of the data to be gathered from their responses on the administered researcher-made questionnaire. The anonymity of the identity of the respondents was established by excluding profile variable and treating the gathered responses as grouped data.
The questionnaire was used to draw out data on three identified factors that commonly served as reasons why students are frequently not attending their classes. It covers 15 item statements wherein five items illustrate the possible causes of habitual absenteeism in each identified factor namely: attitude, school, and home-related factors. The questionnaire underwent content and face validations by experts who are composed of a registered psychometrician, a registered guidance counselor, and a licensed professional teacher who secured the congruence of the item statements on the constructs measured in the study and other considerations such as clarity of the item statements, balance, and the like. The pertinent data gathered from the respondents' responses on the researchermade questionnaire served as the basis to propose intervention program which can minimize absenteeism of teacher education students. Moreover, the following mean ranges with their corresponding interpretations were used to analyze the computed mean: 3.51-4.00: Strongly Agree/Highly Contributive; 2.51-3.50: Agree/Contributive; 1.51-2.50: Slightly Agree/Slightly Contributive; 1.00-1.50: Disagree/Not Contributive.

Teacher Education Students' Absenteeism in Terms of Attitude-Related Factors
Attitude which is commonly comprised of beliefs, feelings, and behavioral intentions can influence students' engagement in learning tasks which is likely to motivate them to attend classes in school. This favorable influence of positive attitude in students' schooling can help them attain success in their respective academic program and courses. Hence, it is important to examine the influence of attitude-related factors on the school attendance of teacher education students.  Table 1 illustrates that attitude-related factors were highly contributory to teacher education students' absenteeism (overall mean = 3.54). This result can be traced to their preference on teacher education programs which were not their first choice (mean = 3.83). This negative preference on pre-service teachers' training seems to make them uninterested in making assignments on concepts relative to teaching (mean = 3.52) and drive them to accomplish other priorities than studying (mean 3.74). These undesirable condition toward studying and unfavorable attitude on the teaching profession often isolate them from other students taking the same courses as they are tired of mingling with them (mean = 3.43). This self-imposed isolation appears to indicate the irrelevance of their current academic programs to their personal aspirations which can decrease their motivation for studying and attending their classes. Bañez (2016) affirmed this notion by stressing that students' motivation for schooling depends on the relevance of the concepts they study to their lives and aspirations.

Teacher Education Students' Absenteeism in Terms of School-Related Factors
The school where favorable classroom atmosphere is set by the way teacher and students manage the learning environment and class interactions. These school-related factors are important in encouraging students to attend their classes and refrain from absences.  Table 2 describes the respondents' absenteeism in terms of school-related factors. It was found out that the classroom atmosphere was not conducive for learning due to poor ventilation (mean = 3.70). This poor classroom ventilation can result to discomfort among students driving them to be noisy (mean = 3.26) and to engaged in irritating activities such as bullying (mean = 3.13). This alarming condition can result to students' failure of recalling and associating the previously discussed topics to the new lessons discussed by their teachers (mean = 3.13) which can cause students to detest their instructors (3.13). In general, the school-related factors were found to be contributory to teacher education students' absenteeism (overall mean = 3.27) as the poor ventilation of the classrooms has caused students' discomforts which engaged them to irritating activities unsafe for the entire class.
According to Henry (2007), the feeling of discomfort resulted from poor learning environment can lessen the feeling of security and safety among students that can force them to skip school. Similarly, Balfanz and Byrnes (2012) noted that students' avoidance of harassment and bullying caused by poorly managed classroom initiated them to commit absences as they find the school unsafe.

Teacher Education Students' Absenteeism in Terms of Home-Related Factors
The manner that students are raised at their home may influence their schooling; thus, it is equally important to examine students' absenteeism in terms of school-related factors.  Table 3 shows that home-related factors were highly contributory to teacher education students' absenteeism (overall mean = 3.56). This unfavorable situation to students' class attendance appeared to be the result of their parents' habitual quarrel (mean = 3.70) that was likely to be influenced by the financial crisis experienced by their families. This financial crisis experienced by students was detrimental to their schooling as they had no means to finance their school projects (mean = 3.61) and often requested by their parents to be absent from their classes to perform other tasks (mean = 3.65). This event can discourage students from schooling which can lead to a feeling that nobody cares about their studying (mean = 3.48) resulting to their habitual truancy. This is affirmed by Balfanz and Byrnes (2012) by stressing that poverty can discourage students from attending their classes to fulfill other family obligations.

Intervention Program to Minimize Absenteeism of Teacher Education Students
After determining the causes of absenteeism of teacher education students, the researchers proposed interventions which aimed to minimize their absenteeism. The suggested interventions are presented in tabular form along with each specific purpose and brief description. Monitor students' attendance religiously to identify students who are at risk of habitual truancy Collaboration among course instructors, professors, and guidance counselor can be strengthen to identify students who are prone to chronic absenteeism and implement appropriate intervention programs Introduce a mentoring system to encourage students to see the importance of teaching profession Improve school attendance and motivation to complete the teacher education programs Alumni with inspiring and successful stories in the teaching profession may be introduced to teacher education students to emphasize the significant roles that teachers play in the society; thus, promoting positive attitude toward the profession Individualize intervention practices Augment preventive measures through intervention mechanisms Connect students with the support they need to attend school regularly

Discussion
Chronic absenteeism among students engaged in teacher training can be avoided if the relevance of their current academic programs to their personal aspirations has been clarified. As secondary to students' preference in academic programs, the benefits and prestige of teaching as profession can be clarified among students to develop their positive attitude towards pre-service teachers' training which can increase their motivation in studying and engaging in learning tasks relevant to teachers' training that can strengthen their commitment to school attendance. This often leads to the identification of their capabilities that are responsive to the demand of the teaching profession. This notion is affirmed by the Self-Efficacy Theory that emphasizes the importance of people's judgement on their capabilities to the achievement of their goals and aspirations (Hoy and Miskel, 2008). However, students who refused to see themselves as future teachers can be given opportunity to discover their aptitude and be provided with option to pursue the academic program they deem beneficial to their future career. This discovery of students' own potentials can stimulate genuine love for studying that can enhance their school attendance.
Poverty which is rampant in third-world countries is found detrimental to students' school attendance. This financial problem encountered by students can be addressed by the administrations of different educational institutions through strengthening their financial aid and assistance to deserving students. This financial aid and assistance can be provided in the form of scholarship grants or compensation for clerical work for students as support to various offices that are short in manpower. This clerical job can orient students on the world of work while gaining a way to finance their schooling which can lessen their absences due to financial problem.
The findings of this study call for the development and validation of strategic plan that can help students who are at risk of habitual truancy to increase their motivation on studying and attending their classes.


Birth Control: American Universities and Equal Protection

Colleges in the United States unequally provide reproductive services to men and women. Men are given free condoms. Although women have access to free condoms, condoms are men’s reproductive responsibility. They are designed to protect men from transmitting and contracting diseases. A woman may offer to provide a condom, but cannot force a male to wear a condom. College campuses believe that condoms are cost effective and generally accessible in comparison to birth control. In the United States, birth control requires a doctor’s prescription even though high doses of hormones, such as Plan B, are available over the counter. Birth control, including pills and medication abortion, should freely be available to women enrolled at universities. University doctors should provide prescriptions and unlimited free doses to ensure that women may exercise their rights to choose, not to bear, and not to raise children.

Colleges in the United States unequally provide reproductive services to men and women. Men are given free condoms. Although women have access to free condoms, condoms are men's reproductive responsibility. They are designed to protect men from transmitting and contracting diseases. A woman may offer to provide a condom, but cannot force a male to wear a condom. College campuses believe that condoms are cost effective and generally accessible in comparison to birth control. In the United States, birth control requires a doctor's prescription even though high doses of hormones, such as Plan B, are available over the counter. Birth control, including pills and medication abortion, should freely be available to women enrolled at universities. University doctors should provide prescriptions and unlimited free doses to ensure that women may exercise their rights to choose, not to bear, and not to raise children.
Reproductive reasonability among women has always been and continues to be stigmatized in the United States. The public seems to be averse to emergency contraceptives. Universities may provide women with free emergency contraceptives, such as Plan B; however, general ethos, proactivity, self-autonomy, and public humiliation explicate why many women would prefer to have access to birth control rather than regularly seek emergency contraceptives from the same university clinic. Women at universities want to appear competent and act on their own behalves.
Segregation between women conforming to tradition and nontraditionalists is a problem in America. For example, in Burwell et al. [1] Hobby Lobby the court found that closely held for-profit corporations are not required to provide women with coverage for birth control if they believe that birth control is like abortion, and therefore against the corporate person's religious freedom [2]. Religious organizations were entitled to this exception under the law; and the Court extended it to private corporations. The US Supreme Court protected corporate personhood saying that corporations could deny coverage to exercise religious freedom. The U.S. Supreme Court created this right to suit a powerful corporation, Hobby Lobby, which plays religious music over its store speakers. This holding violates Equal Protection. Under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, women have rights to choose whether to create, bear, and raise children. Hobby Lobby is required by law to provide insurance to women, who are pregnant. They cannot be denied insurance because they are pregnant. These women's rights to choose, procreate, and have children are protected. Women, who have the same rights, are not protected because they can be denied some coverage based on their choices not to procreate, bear, or have children. Religious zealots may fear that birth control disintegrates a main theme of Christianity: infanticide [3]. For example, childkilling rituals are stopped, yet absolved in the Bible. Legalization of birth control has directly correlated with waning of religion's control in the United States. They ferociously warn against the sin of abortion and have demanded that it not be covered by insurance. This is the same Constitutional error as failure to cover birth control. The government cannot choose for women. The law must be enforced evenly. If pregnant women are entitled to protection, then women choosing to prevent or end pregnancy must be entitled to the same benefits. The right to choose cannot be contingent on outcome. Once a state has an interest in a fetus (e.g., after viability) or after a child is born, then other rights may attach, such as the right to parent, which is dormant for a woman, who chooses not to have children.
Discursive evidence of sexism abounds. For example, college campuses permit men to peel off their shirts and reveal school colors at football games, but women must retain some clothing lest they be challenged by campus police and escorted from the premises [4]. Male bees in honey bee programs are segregated, while females are mistreated. Some zoos working with colleges teach students to take young cubs from mothers despite obvious heartbreak; and some fathers may be deprived of ever seeing their cubs or having intimate family relationships (e.g., coitus). These methods of segregating males from females firmly plant

Journal of Contraceptive Studies ISSN 2471-9749
common rhetorical threat among motorists, who have insisted that the elected and ousted president, Hillary Rodham Clinton, should be incarcerated. Contributing to intelligentsia and maintaining her position of authority in the War on Women and Schools, Clinton has said that she will resume teaching at a university this fall. Her selected university, Columbia, is known for a sexual assault case resulting in the victim creating art. She dragged a full-size dormitory mattress to each class for several weeks to denounce her attacker. New Yorkers continue to stand on the forefront of gender equality, not only when Senator Clinton was in office, but before her tenure when they equalized nudity laws.
into students the belief that they deserve to be discriminated by universities seeking to fulfill traditional agendas of suppressing women's procreative freedoms and denying equality to men (e.g., failure to produce quality pills for males punished by sensation-decreasing condoms).
Commentary about birth control has become so hostile in the United States that it has spilled onto vehicles. This medium is silent, albeit powerful, because traffic collations are unavoidable.
Below are some examples of the hostile and uncomfortable pontifications blustered by American motorists [5] (Figures 1 and  2).
This vehicle explicitly depicts firearms to insinuate the uterus, womb, and ovaries of a female in order to intimidate the right to choose. The message reads: "OUTLAW," an insinuation that women exercising their right to abort should be jailed. This is a

Figure 2
This vehicle explicitly depicts firearms to insinuate the uterus, womb, and ovaries of a female in order to intimidate the right to choose.


s2fieldsofstudy: Education Medicine

text:
Validating Fitbit Zip for monitoring physical activity of children in school: a cross-sectional study

Background Modern activity trackers, including the Fitbit Zip, enable the measurement of both the step count as well as physical activity (PA) intensities. However, there is a need for field-based validation studies in a variety of populations before using trackers for research. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to investigate the validity of Fitbit Zip step count, moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary minutes, in different school segments in 3rd grade students. Methods Third grade students (N = 147, aged 9–10 years) wore a Fitbit Zip and an ActiGraph GT3x-BT accelerometer simultaneously on a belt for five days during school hours. The number of steps, minutes of MVPA and sedentary time during class time, physical education lessons and recess were extracted from both devices using time filters, based on the information from school time tables obtained from class teachers. The validity of the Fitbit Zip in different school segments was assessed using Bland-Altman analysis and Spearman’s correlation. Results There was a strong correlation in the number of steps in all in-school segments between the two devices (r = 0.85–0.96, P < 0.001). The Fitbit Zip overestimated the number of steps in all segments, with the greatest overestimation being present in physical education lessons (345 steps). As for PA intensities, the agreement between the two devices in physical education and recess was moderate for MVPA minutes (r = 0.56 and r = 0.72, P < 0.001, respectively) and strong for sedentary time (r = 0.85 and r = 0.87, P < 0.001, respectively). During class time, the correlation was weak for MVPA minutes (r = 0.24, P < 0.001) and moderate for sedentary time (r = 0.57, P < 0.001). For total in-school time, the correlation between the two devices was strong for steps (r = 0.98, P < 0.001), MVPA (r = 0.80, P < 0.001) and sedentary time (r = 0.94, P < 0.001). Conclusion In general, the Fitbit Zip can be considered a relatively accurate device for measuring the number of steps, MVPA and sedentary time in students in a school-setting. However, in segments where sedentary time dominates (e.g. academic classes), a research-grade accelerometer should be preferred.

Background
Despite the abundance of evidence showing the positive influence of physical activity (PA) on physical, social and mental health [1,2], the physical activity levels of children remain low [3,4]. In order to assess adherence to PA guidelines and provide accurate measures concerning the amount of PA, valid, reliable and feasible measurement instruments are needed.
In general, pedometers are accepted as a valid tool for objectively measuring the PA of children [5]. Therefore, they are widely used in measuring both overall PA as well as PA in different settings [6][7][8][9]. Due to their relatively low cost, attractiveness, and ease of use, consumer-grade pedometers are an appealing alternative to research-grade accelerometers. One shortcoming of many pedometers is their limited ability to count only the number of steps but not the intensity of the exercise. Therefore, it is difficult to assess compliance with PA guidelines, which are based on the intensity and duration of PA, recommending a minimum of 60 min of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) every day [10]. There have been attempts to find step counts that correspond to the recommended 60 min of MVPA. As a result, a desired number of daily steps has been proposed to range from 10,000 to 15,000 steps/day [11,12]. As students spend a lot of time at school, it has been advised that half of the 60 min daily recommendation should be acquired in school [13]. It has been indicated that 5300 steps for girls and 5800 steps for boys can determine whether the students have achieved the recommended 30 min of MVPA in school [14].
More recently, consumer-grade monitors that measure the intensity of PA in addition to simple step count are rapidly appearing. Therefore, they have the potential to be used in studies evaluating students' adherence with PA recommendations as well as the amount of MVPA minutes acquired in different school day segments (i.e. class time, recess, physical education lesson). One such consumer monitor, frequently used in a research setting, is the Fitbit Zip, as it has shown to be valid in terms of step count both in laboratory [15,16] and free-living conditions in adults [15][16][17][18]. As for PA intensities, a study with adults has indicated a strong correlation in MVPA minutes between the Fitbit Zip and the ActiGraph [17]. It is also important that subjects rate the Fitbit Zip acceptable to use and easy to integrate into their daily routine [18], therefore increasing the feasibility of their use in larger studies. Still, the need for more field-based studies in a variety of populations has been stressed in a recent review [16]. Moreover, there is little published data on validation studies conducted among children and youth. To the best of our knowledge there is only one study validating the step count of the Fitbit Zip among free-living adolescents, and thus confirming the previous studies with adult population and showing the Fitbit Zip to be a valid tool for measuring step count [19]. The reliability and validity of Fitbit Zip trackers has also been confirmed in preschool (3)(4) year-olds) children in a childcare setting [20]. Still, there is a lack of research validating Fitbit Zip steps counts or PA intensities in school children. Therefore, before using this device in research, the validation of Fitbit Zip estimates in comparison with accelerometer estimates is needed.
Therefore, the main aim of the current study was to investigate the validity of Fitbit Zip step count, MVPA and sedentary minutes in different school segments in children.

Study design
A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the validity of Fitbit Zip in measuring step count, MVPA and sedentary time in school setting, compared to a previously validated research-level accelerometer.

Devices
The Fitbit Zip (Fitbit Inc., USA) is a small, light (8 g) and relatively inexpensive belt-worn activity monitor (Table 1). Data from the device can be transferred to a computer via Bluetooth and its replaceable battery runs for up to 6 months, making it a convenient device for measuring physical activity for both users and researchers. The Fitbit Zip has been previously shown to be a valid instrument for counting steps in free-living setting in adult, adolescent, and preschool populations [15][16][17][18][19][20].
The ActiGraph GT3x-BT (ActiGraph LLC, Pensacola, FL, USA) is a research grade tri-axial accelerometer that can be attached on the belt with a rubber band. The device is rechargeable, and the initialization and data download to computer is performed via USB. We used the ActiGraph GT3x-BT accelerometer to validate the output of the Fitbit Zip as ActiGraph GT3x-BT has been shown to be a valid device for measuring the physical activity of children [21] and it has been previously widely used in physical activity research with children [22][23][24].

Participants
The sample consisted of third grade students (aged 9-10 years) from seven Estonian schools participating in a pilot project that aimed at increasing the physical activity of students in the school setting. The pilot schools were situated in different parts of Estonia and varied according to their ownership (private vs municipality schools), location (city vs countryside), and size (from 175 to 789 students).

Procedure
The study was performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the University of Tartu (nr 255/M-11). Written informed consent was received from all schools, parents and students willing to participate (N = 219) resulting in a participation rate of 92%. From all consented students a subsample (N = 147) was formed for measuring physical activity with the Fitbit Zip and Acti-Graph simultaneously.
The accelerometer and Fitbit Zip were attached on the hip with the same elastic belt and worn on the same side. The accelerometer was set to record physical activity data in 15 s intervals. Students wore the devices for one school week in September and another school week in November 2016. The devices were worn only during school hoursthey were distributed to the students before the beginning of first lesson and collected after the last lesson by class teachers. The devices were stored in a plastic bag with a special sticker on it to enable the students to recognize their devices easily every day.
School timetables and information concerning school attendance were obtained from class teachers in order to match the PA to the classes of specific school subjects.

Statistical analysis
Physical activity data from accelerometers were downloaded and processed using ActiLife software version 6.11.2 (ActiGraph LLC, Pensacola, FL, USA). To calculate minutes spent in sedentary (≤100 counts per minute), light (101-2295 counts per minute) and MVPA (≥2296 counts per minute), Evenson cut-points were used [25], as they have shown the best classification accuracy in children [25]. Zero counts for a consecutive 60 min were classified as non-wear time.
Data from Fitbit Zip devices were first automatically synced to a Fitbit server and then downloaded to the SQL-based Qure Data Management Platform via the Fitbit application programming interface (API). As Fitbit data was collected in 1 min intervals, a Python script was used to aggregate the data to longer intervals having the length of one lesson or recess. "Fairly active" and "very active" intensities from Fitbit were considered as moderate and vigorous activity respectively.
The number of steps, minutes of MVPA and sedentary time during lessons and recess were extracted using time filters, based on the information from school time tables. As a result of data preparation, the data set contained the following information: subject ID, gender, school ID, class ID, date, day of the week, type of interval (class time, physical education lesson, recess), length of interval in minutes, step counts, sedentary and active (light, moderate and vigorous) minutes for Fitbit and ActiGraph devices. Data was also checked for outliers. In total, there were 8923 rows of data. First, 923 rows (10.3%) were removed from data due to Fitbit time inaccuracies (shifts in Fitbit device clocks due to unknown reasons so that we were unable to compare the data to ActiGraph within the same lessons). In addition, 515 data rows (5.8%) were removed because their step count by Fitbit was zero. For all of those 515 data rows, the Fitbit step count was zero for whole day, indicating a faulty measurement. Finally, after careful examination of the raw data and in order to remove extreme outliers, we left out 32 rows (0.4%) from the data, where the difference between the steps by Fitbit and Acti-Graph differed more than 10 times. As a result, the cleaned dataset contained 7453 observations -3850 for class time, 309 for physical education lessons and 3294 for recessof 144 students.
Descriptive statistics were used to characterize the sample and physical activity during class time, physical education lessons and recess. The data was checked for normality using the Shapiro-Wilks test. To assess the potential systematic difference between two devices the Wilcoxon Signed Rank test was used. Spearman's correlation coefficient r was calculated in order to compare the number of steps, minutes of MVPA and sedentary time derived by the Fitbit Zip and ActiGraph. To test the agreement between two devices, Bland-Altman analysis was applied, where in addition to the limits of agreement, the bias between two devices was calculated. The bias is the mean of differences of the two devices. Positive bias indicates that the Fitbit Zip systematically overestimates the number of steps or activity minutes compared to the ActiGraph accelerometer. The data analysis was conducted by using R version 3.2.3.

Results
The gender distribution in the final sample was equal (72 males and 72 females). The physical activity of students in class, physical education lessons and recess is summarised in Table 2. The most active segment during school day was the physical education lesson, where on When comparing the two devices, there was a strong correlation in the number of steps in all in-school segments between the Fitbit Zip and ActiGraph (r = 0.85-0.96, P < 0.001) ( Table 2). The number of steps between the two devices were significantly different during physical education lessons and recess. Bland-Altman analyses indicated that the Fitbit Zip systematically overestimated the number of steps compared to ActiGraph accelerometer, with the greatest difference occurring during physical education lessons.
The minutes of MVPA in different in-school segments differed between two devices, while the correlation was moderate during physical education lesson and recess (r = 0.56-0.72, P < 0.001) and weak (r = 0.24, P < 0.001) during class time. The Fitbit Zip underestimated the amount of MVPA during class time and recess, and overestimated it during physical education lessons.
As for sedentary time, there was a moderate to strong correlation (r = 0.57-0.87, P < 0.001) between two devices depending on the segment. The Fitbit overestimated time spent as sedentary in classes and during in-school segment compared to the ActiGraph, while in physical education lessons, the Fitbit underestimated sedentary time.
When looking at total in-school activity, students accumulated more than 21.7-25.6% of daily recommended physical activity in school (Table 3). During school hours, students spent more than 1.5 h sedentary.

Discussion
Consumer-level monitors make the devices more accessible to researchers, however there is a need for validation studies, especially among children. Therefore, the aim of this study was to fill this gap in scientific literature and validate the step count, MVPA and sedentary time of Fitbit Zip among third grade students (9-10 year-old) in a school setting.
In general, the Fitbit Zip can be considered a relatively accurate device for measuring steps in third grade students in school, despite the fact that the Fitbit Zip tended to overestimate the number of steps during school hours as well as during all in-school segments (class time, physical education lessons, and recess). However, the amount of overestimation was small. The overestimation of steps by the Fitbit Zip is in line with previous studies where daily physical activity of adults [17,18], adolescents [19]  Note: * P < 0.05, ** P < 0.001, LoA lower limits of agreement, LuA upper limits of agreement. Differences between two devices according to Wilcoxon Signed Rank test are presented in column "ActiGraph GT3x" Table 3 Physical activity during school hours (means (SD)) and proportion from daily physical activity recommendation or preschool children [20] has been studied. Despite the overestimation, the correlation between the Fitbit Zip and ActiGraph was strong in all in-school segments, supporting previous research [16][17][18][19]. Therefore, the findings of the present study extended previous research and confirmed that the Fitbit Zip is a valid device for measuring steps also in students.
In addition to the number of steps, several modern activity monitors, including the Fitbit Zip, record information about physical activity intensity that can be used to determine the accumulation of recommended minutes of MVPA. However, research on the validity of intensities measured with the Fitbit Zip is especially lacking in children. Therefore, the unique aspect of the current study is the comparison of minutes of MVPA and sedentary time between the Fitbit Zip and a research-grade accelerometer. When looking at total in-school time, it can be concluded that the Fitbit Zip can be used for measuring both sedentary time and MVPA in school, as the bias between two devices was small and the correlation with ActiGraph was strong. These results concerning the MVPA minutes support previous research with adults [17].
The validity of Fitbit Zip activity minutes can depend on in-school segments. One unexpected finding was that the Fitbit Zip performed weaker in the classroom setting, where sedentary behaviour dominated. During classes, the Fitbit Zip underestimated the minutes of MVPA, overestimated sedentary time, and was weakly to moderately correlated with ActiGraph values. It could be hypothesised that one reason for the modest agreement between two devices was due to the sedentary nature of academic classes combined with the differences in data recording intervals (15-s for ActiGraph and 1-min for Fitbit Zip), which makes the ActiGraph more sensitive to short activity bouts. In classes, the sedentary behaviour dominated when over 33 min out of 45-min lesson was spent as sedentary and less than one MVPA minute was acquired. As for physical education lessons and recess, both of which are more physically active segments, the validity of Fitbit Zip was acceptable, as the bias between Fitbit Zip and ActiGraph was smaller. Moreover, the minutes of MVPA and sedentary time were moderately to strongly correlated.
It has been proposed that due to their relatively low cost and usability, activity trackers could be used in scientific research [15,18,19]. In general, the current study supports this position. It has been suggested that strong correlations provide preliminary evidence of the reasonable validity of consumer-level devices [17]. Therefore, our study indicated that the Fitbit Zip is suitable for measuring in-school steps as well as MVPA minutes of students. Moreover, the Fitbit Zip can be considered an acceptable, enabling to determine the adherence to PA recommendations as well as the contribution of school day PA to daily PA. However, caution should be applied when the aim is to measure day segments in which sedentary behaviour dominates (e.g. class settings). In such case more sensitive research-grade devices should be favoured. In addition, it has been suggested that activity trackers might not be suitable for longer interventions as the manufacturer does not inform the users in case of a change in its algorithms [19]. Another limitation for researchers is the data processing options offered by Fitbit Inc. Currently, only daily aggregated data can be downloaded via Fitbit online software, while in research, more detailed data is often preferred and, moreover, more detailed data is recorded and uploaded to Fitbit's server. Therefore, researchers have to make additional efforts to find ways to download the detailed data (e.g. develop application for using Fitbit API). It should also be noted that the Fitbit Zip does not detect non-wear time. Thus, in case of daily data measurements, the activity trackers should be accompanied with a diary in order to minimize possible bias in sedentary time evaluation.
One limitation of the study is the absence of after-school data which could have enabled to assess compliance with daily PA recommendations. However, by focusing only on in-school time by attaching trackers to students only when they were at school, we reduced the risk of losing or forgetting devices and therefore increased the data quality. Still, we lost 1470 data rows (16.4% of the initial database) due to device malfunction, which is similar to a review reporting a 11-33% of data loss for field-based studies with activity trackers [16]. The strengths of our study are the free-living setting and assessing PA intensities in addition to step counts. This represents a significant contribution over previous research, as there is a lack of studies examining the validity of MVPA in school children from different age groups, and to the best of our knowledge, no study has examined the validity of sedentary time of Fitbit Zip in comparison to ActiGraph in school children. As sometimes cheaper devices cannot be avoided when conducting a study, future research should also incorporate a wider range of consumer-grade activity trackers from different manufacturers in order to support the evidence-based decision of researchers when choosing the device.

Conclusion
In summary, the evidence from this study shows that the Fitbit Zip can be considered a valid device for measuring the steps, MVPA and sedentary time of students in a school setting. However, in segments where sedentary time dominates (e.g. academic lessons), a research-grade accelerometer should be preferred. Present study is a valuable addition to previous validation studies conducted with adults, adolescents, and preschool children, confirming that the Fitbit Zip can be used as an alternative to a research-grade accelerometer for measuring both the steps as well as the physical activity intensities in 9-10 year-old children.