Compares the use of a print and multimedia program to teach Spanish to second through fifth graders from quantitative and qualitative perspectives. Showed that achievement and proficiency of students using print or multimedia materials did not differ at posttest. A small but statistically significant difference in achievement emerged at the…

Presents the results of a comparative study to evaluate the effectiveness of two interactive computer-based learning (CBL) programs, covering the cardiovascular system, as an alternative to lectures for first year undergraduate students at a United Kingdom University. Discusses results in relation to the design of evaluative studies and the future…

This study presents comparative case studies of preservice and first-year teachers' and expert teachers' conceptions of the concept of prior knowledge. Kelly's ("The Psychology of Personal Construct", New York: W. W. Norton, 1955) theory of personal constructs as discussed by Akerson, Flick, and Lederman ("Journal of Research in…

The current study investigated the impact of implementing Instructional Consultation Teams (IC Teams) on the disproportionate referral and placement of minority students into special education. Data were collected on referral and placement patterns of minority students in 13 IC Teams schools and 9 comparison schools. Three accepted indices of…

Involving students in inquiry-based exercises is much more difficult than simply providing activities for them to do in the classroom. While active learning suggests students are physically participating in the lesson, inquiry learning requires that they are also mentally participating in it. Academic theorists agree it is more the mental…

Using a pretest-posttest comparison-group design, this 16-week study investigated the effects of 2 instructional approaches on the phonological awareness, alphabetic knowledge, and early reading of kindergarten children. The primary goal was to compare a form of contextualized instruction based on an adapted interactive writing program with a…

In this study, the effect of problem-based learning on students' academic achievement and performance skills in a unit on the human excretory system was investigated. Sixty-one 10th grade students, from two full classes instructed by the same biology teacher, were involved in the study. Classes were randomly assigned as either the experimental or…

The study explores students' use of language in the process of making sense of genetics concepts. It aims to analyze primary and secondary discourses, and examine the relationship between social practices and discourses. Sixth-grade students were interviewed before and during four weeks instruction on genetics. General trends were detected…

The written English vocabulary of 72 deaf elementary school students of various proficiency levels in American Sign Language (ASL) was compared with the performance of 60 hearing English-as-a-second-language (ESL) speakers and 61 hearing monolingual speakers of English, all of similar age. Students were asked to retell "The Tortoise and the Hare"…

The professional literature continues to be an essential resource for scholars and practitioners for filtering and highlighting new advances in research and practice. However, the ongoing challenges associated with too much information, inadequate tools for managing information overload, and too little time for professional development demand that…

Earlier work, often referred to as the "hole in the wall" experiments, has shown that groups of children can learn to use public computers on their own. This paper presents the method and results of an experiment conducted to investigate whether such unsupervised group learning in shared public spaces is universal. The experiment was…

Worldwide, electronic learning (E-learning) has become an important part of the education agenda in the last decade. The Suan Dusit Rajabhat University (SDRU), Thailand has made significant efforts recently to use Internet technologies to enhance learning opportunities. The results reported here are part of a pioneering study to determine the…

Although there is a considerable emphasis on inquiry-based, active learning in standards documents, curriculum documents, and textbooks, there exists a great deal of debate regarding the effectiveness of specific curricular and instructional approaches, including kit-based instruction. This study examines the efficacy of science kits in improving…

In foreign language education, new professional demands are made on teachers. Foreign language teaching can no longer be regarded as a mainly linguistic task. Teachers are now required to teach intercultural communicative competence. Internationally, the assumption seems to be that teachers are already moving in the advocated direction and are…

This longitudinal study explored the degree to which a required MBA course emphasizing experiential learning positively influenced student retention. Results from subgroup comparisons across multiple time periods suggest that this type of teaching methodology leads to enhanced retention effects. The improved retention is attributed to the…