Of all the recent budget cuts made by the Eagle County, Colorado, school district--the loss of 89 staff jobs through attrition and layoffs, a 1.5 percent across-the-board pay cut, and the introduction of three furlough days--none sparked as much anger or faced the same scrutiny as the decision to cut three foreign-language teaching positions and…

The present study investigated the effect of online peer feedback through blogs on Turkish EFL students' writing performance and their perceptions. Data were collected by using: a) Turkish EFL Students' Background Survey, b) interviews at the beginning and end of the term, c) first and revised drafts, and d) end-of-semester Questionnaire. The…

In this study, researchers investigated the influence of modeling active learning strategies in an introductory foundations teacher preparation course: 1) on teacher candidates' perceptions of participating in active learning in the college classroom, 2) on participants' acquisition of course content, and 3) on participants' later use of active…

The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of teaching beginning wind instrumentalists using a sound-before-sight (aural) approach, designed to foster the connections between eyes, ears, and fingers; and capitalize on students' musical intuitions. Participants received one hour of weekly instruction for 15 weeks. One group (n = 10)…

Invention activities challenge students to tackle problems that superficially appear unrelated to the course material but illustrate underlying fundamental concepts that are fundamental to material that will be presented. During our invention activities in a first-year biology class, students were presented with problems that are parallel to those…

In 1993 Carey and Smith conjectured that the most promising way to boost students' understanding of the nature of science is a "theory-building approach to teaching about inquiry." The research reported here tested this conjecture by comparing results from two Grade 4 classrooms that differed in their emphasis on and technological…

Stereochemistry is an important topic in organic chemistry. It is also a difficult topic for students to learn. This study investigated the relative effectiveness on students' understanding of three kinds of molecular representations of stereochemistry concepts. Instructional activities compared the use of either: (i) computer-based molecular…

This study investigated 134 middle school students' suggestions concerning environmental and instructional changes based on their individual learning-style Inventories. The results of the study determined that students "could" suggest environmental and instructional changes that differed from the accustomed traditional environments and instruction…

Reflection is considered a vital tool in shaping and informing preservice teachers' understanding of teaching and learning, especially in the context of field-based experiences. In this qualitative study, the field experience reflective journals of 2 groups of elementary education preservice teachers provided data to determine the influence of…

Nowadays knowledge and communication technologies are developing rapidly and changing people's lives. With the help of the developing technologies, people can access knowledge independent of time and place and distance education technologies offer handicapped students a range of opportunities in order that they may access a better level of…

This study aims to explore the effectiveness of computer-assisted musical instruction (CAMI) in the Learning Chinese Musical Instruments (LCMI) course. The CAMI software for Chinese musical instruments was developed and administered to 228 students in a vocational high school. A pretest-posttest non-equivalent control group design with three…

The purpose of this study is to investigate and compare the effects of activity-based and traditional instructions on students' conceptual development of certain probability concepts. The study was conducted using a pretest-posttest control group design with 80 seventh graders. A developed "Conceptual Development Test" comprising 12…

Calls to broaden notions of "literacy" from a focus on print-based and verbal literacies to the incorporation of a range of modes of communication and representation are increasing. This paper uses case study data from 3- and 4-year-olds in a New Zealand kindergarten to explore the affordances offered by different literacies to…

This study elucidates pedagogical differences and similarities between the ways in which instructors from business and communication disciplines teach the introductory business communication course. During the spring of 2008, the authors surveyed 444 instructors teaching this course at colleges and universities across the United States. Their…

This contribution reports about a seven-month long video-based study in two regular Flemish sixth-grade mathematics classrooms. The focus is on teachers' approaches towards problem solving. In our analysis we distinguished between a paradigmatic-oriented (focus on the mathematical structure) and a narrative-oriented (focus on the contextual…