Huizu Between Religious Control and Freedom in Communist China: A Study of Chinese Muslim Minority

The freedom of religion in communist China is an ambiguous notion as the communist party understands religion as a reminiscent of backwardness and simultaneously proclaims the freedom of religion in the country. Islam, religion practiced by Hui minority, is included among the recognized religions of China and its adherents are granted rights to follow it. This paper argues that the Communist party has employed a disguised policy of controlling religious belief through establishing state controlled religious organizations and imparting freedom to practice religion. The slow and steady mind-making through these institutions train Hui youth to withdraw from their religion and to facilitate this withdrawal, the previously extant correlation between Hui ethnicity and religion (Islam) has been eliminated by the state and Hui ethnicity has nothing to do with religious affiliation anymore. The data for this research has been collected through ethnographic research upon the Hui community of Xi’an, employing unobtrusive observation as well as intensive interviewing.

Implementing ‘Assessment As Learning to Develop Students’ Conceptual Understanding in a Secondary School Chemistry Classroom of a Government School in Karachi

The aim of this study was to understand the notion of assessment as learning', through practicing in the secondary Science classroom to assess and develop students' conceptual understanding in the concepts of Matter and Bonding from the Secondary School Chemistry. Within this view of learning Science as a process of constructing understanding and restructuring the existing ideas, assessment becomes the heart of teaching-learning activities. Current assessment practices in secondary science classroom, followed by teaching and learning, act as a mechanism to measure learning rather improve it. Assessing students' conceptual understanding during the process is crucial for addressing the issues of misunderstanding, underdeveloped ideas or alternative frameworks that hinder learning. Students learn best by having a deeper level of understanding, when they involve in thinking about their learning in a fearless interactive environment. To bridge the gap between my classroom assessment practices and the research, the study was conducted and it helped me to analyze the possibilities and challenges to implement assessment as learning in order to develop students' conceptual understanding in the Secondary school /Science classroom. Conferencing with small groups was used as the teaching, learning and assessment strategy, when the students were engaged in different activities. Rubrics were developed and used by the students and the teacher to assess students' conceptual understanding in a fearless environment, as a result, the classroom culture changed from a silent and strictly structured cultured to a highly interactive one. The research study describes that students develop understanding when assessment is practiced as learning. However, in the implementation of assessment as learning in the secondary science classroom, there are many challenges that made it difficult, one of which was workload, which hindered in implementing assessment as a form of learning in a secondary science classrooms.