The study tried to ascertain the impact of instructors' credentials and professional expertise on students' biology achievement in Birim Central Municipality, Eastern Region, Ghana. The study used survey design. The respondents were chosen using simple and selective probability sampling. 80 biology teachers and four head teachers gave us the…

This column shares reflections or thoughtful opinions on issues of broad interest to the community. This month's issue describes examples of challenging student behavior and provides ideas to help confront this type of behavior.

Students with academic, social, and emotional disabilities often demonstrate challenging behaviors and struggle to remain focused on the lesson, learn less that their peers, resulting in lower academic achievement. Research has demonstrated that the more actively engaged students are in the lesson, the more they learn, and therefore the more…

The study investigated early years teachers' understanding and use of graphic symbols, defined as the visual representation(s) used to communicate one or more "linguistic" concepts, which can be used to facilitate science learning. The study was conducted in Cyprus where six early years teachers were observed and interviewed. The results…

Recent science-education reforms have targeted students' ability to 'talk science', especially in science classrooms. Prior research has shown that participation in scientific discourse in class is one of the most challenging scientific-literacy tasks, and particularly complex for English language learners (ELLs) at the upper elementary level. The…

The aim of this study is to define undesired behaviors in the classroom, to better understand the reasons of these undesired behaviors, and to offer strategies to overcome these behaviors. The researchers have used a qualitative research approach in this study. For this aim, the researchers have purposefully selected 12 physics teachers who work…

Gender differences in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) symptoms and associated problem behaviours over development may provide clues regarding why more males than females are diagnosed with ASD. Fifty-six high-functioning children with ASD, and 44 typically developing controls, half of the participants female, were assessed at baseline (aged…

Technological innovations offer promise for improving intervention implementation in secondary, inclusive classrooms. A withdrawal design was employed with two high-school students in order to assess the effectiveness of a technologically delivered, self-monitoring intervention in improving on-task behavior in a science classroom. Two students…

This study examined the effect of one interdependent group contingency intervention, the mystery motivator, as it affected three students identified as exhibiting problem behaviors, as well as the effects on nonidentified students in a ninth-grade high school biology class. An A/B/A/B single-case design was used to evaluate the effects of the…

The delta-plot method (Angoff, 1972) is a graphical technique used in the context of test equating for identifying common items with aberrant changes in their item difficulties across administrations or alternate forms. This brief research report explores the effects on equated aggregate scores when delta-plot outliers are either retained in or…

In recent years, an increasing number of analyses in Learning Analytics and Educational Data Mining (EDM) have adopted a "Discovery with Models" approach, where an existing model is used as a key component in a new EDM/analytics analysis. This article presents a theoretical discussion on the emergence of discovery with models, its…

Managing practical science activities effectively is demanding for any teacher and especially so for inexperienced practitioners. Add the problems posed by integrating children with learning and behavioural difficulties and one has the sort of challenge that makes working in education rewarding--but not easy! As a newly qualified teacher, the…

This paper presents the findings of a study on the current knowledge and attitudes of pre-service teachers on the use of scenario-based multi-user virtual environments in science education. The 28 participants involved in the study were introduced to "Virtual Singapura," a multi-user virtual environment, and completed an open-ended questionnaire.…

We are delighted to welcome you to the International Psychological Applications Conference and Trends 2014, taking place in Porto, Portugal, from 4 to 6 of April. Psychology, in our time, offers a large range of scientific fields where it can be applied. The goal of understanding individuals and groups (mental functions and behavioral…

This study was conducted to examine the promising practice of using technology in teaching math and science in a charter high school in California. The research employed an in-depth qualitative case study method. The main participants were principals, lead teachers, teachers, and support staff. Interviews, observations, and archival documents were…