Our objective was to investigate the impact of the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH) on undergraduates' ability to express logical conclusions and include appropriate evidence in formal writing assignments. Students in three laboratory sections were randomly allocated to the SWH treatment ("n"?=?51 students) with another three sections…

The term "professional vision" points to the many nuanced ways professionals see. This paper traces the development of a professional vision of a researcher and a teacher looking at classroom practices. The researcher's interest was to capture and study notable aspects of the teacher's practice. Through a coding scheme, disparate…

Traditionally, school librarians have had two main strategies for impacting the literacy development of students in their schools. One way is through reading promotion efforts: book talks, book displays, or online book trailers, and literacy events such as book fairs, contests, and reading incentive programs. The other way has been through…

Educational effectiveness research (EER) has accumulated much knowledge in the areas of school effectiveness research (SER), teacher effectiveness research (TER) and school/system improvement research (SSIR). Yet many schools and educational systems are not making enough use of the material and their insights. The article reviews evidence of…

The article "Getting lost in translation" by Harris, Chapman, Muijs and Reynolds addresses the engagement of policy-makers and educational practitioners with (the results of) educational effectiveness and improvement research. In this commentary the article is discussed from the perspectives of research utilisation, the solidity of the…

This article discusses how teachers can increase the effectiveness of homework assignments for all learners. Homework, when designed and implemented properly, is a valuable tool for reinforcing learning. This essay provides a summary of educational research on homework, discusses the elements of effective homework, and suggests practical classroom…

To help in-service English teachers improve their teaching practices and pupils' learning opportunities through an enquiry-oriented and cooperative approach, the author carried out collaborative action research during a practicum in a teacher education course at a university in Hong Kong. This article describes how the collaborative research…

The purpose of this article is to describe a reform model of instructional collaboration, Japanese lesson study, which has been shown in previous research to enhance reform-based teaching. Japanese lesson study is a method of professional development in which teachers collaborate with peers and other specialists to improve teaching and learning.…

With the increasing diversity in schools and the call for addressing specific regional needs, decentralized regulation of the education system is often proposed as an alternative approach to achieve school improvement. Researchers have often associated experimentation and risk-taking as key aspects of effective educational leadership while…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to critically analyse the factors that affect the motivation of public primary school teachers and also to investigate if there is any relationship between teacher motivation and job satisfaction in Mauritius. Design/methodology/approach: Simple random sampling method was used to collect data from 250 primary…

Data-based decision making is all the rage. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan (2009) has emphatically declared, "I am a deep believer in the power of data to drive our decisions. Data gives us the roadmap to reform. It tells us where we are, where we need to go, and who is most at risk." In the past few years, all 50 states have adopted most or…

Linguistic errors are pervasive in second language (L2) students' writing. Depending on their gravity, the errors may cause a minor degree of irritation to the reader or even lead to total communication breakdown. As such, errors have always been a major concern to both students and teachers, and error correction has also assumed a central…

Many of the policy documents and much of the recent literature talk about "leadership" when discussing the role of headteachers and principals of schools. The word is also used when writing about other senior and middle managers. It is a way of showing the difference between what used to be expected of headteachers and what is expected…

A societal shift from print-based to digital texts has afforded the ability to embed reader support within an instructional text. Numerous factors make eBooks an attractive option for colleges and universities, though undergraduates consistently reaffirm a preference for print-based materials. Given that many undergraduates arrive to college with…

The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of in-service music teachers who chose to pursue a master's degree in music education through distance learning. In this study, I examined the motivations of in-service music teachers for choosing to pursue a master's degree in music education through distance learning; the benefits teachers…