Telling students to study simply because they must or making narrow pitches to a subject's future utility typically fail to generate student interest. Six common mistakes that undermine student motivation can be easily avoided--among them are telling students they need to learn the content now because they will need it when they grow up or…

Developing countries have a responsibility not merely to provide computers for schools, but also to foster a habit of infusing a variety of ways in which computers can be integrated in teaching-learning amongst the end users of these tools. Earlier researches lacked a systematic study of the manner and the extent of computer-use by teachers. The…

This essay offers a commentary on how the relationship between language and literacy practices in and out of school has been conceptualized. It draws upon two new books in the field. Shirley Brice Heath's new book, "Words at Work and Play: Three Decades in Family and Community Life," which makes use of rich ethnographic accounts of…

This article builds on research related to the perceptions, perspectives, and experiences of educators in relation to democracy in education (Carr, 2006a), which, it is argued, can be viewed as having a significant impact on what students in elementary and secondary schools learn about democracy (McLaren, 2007; Regenspan, 2002), and, importantly,…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between different types of professional development, teachers' instructional practices, and the achievement of students in science and mathematics. The types of professional development studied included immersion, examining practice, curriculum implementation, curriculum development, and…