This article describes a simple classroom activity that illustrates how economic theory can be used for mechanism design. The rules for a set of contests are presented; the results typically obtained from these contests illustrate how the prize structure can be manipulated in order to produce a particular outcome. Specifically, this activity is…

This research paper documents what learning designs, teaching methods and teaching activities were most commonly used by pre-service teachers and experienced teachers as observed by the pre-service teachers when on their practicum visits in schools. The paper also outlines the benefits of documenting learning designs so that good teaching practice…

This paper presents and discusses findings of a study conducted on pre-service teachers' experiences in virtual and face to face discussions. Technology has brought learning nowadays beyond the classroom context or time zone. The learning context and process no longer rely solely on face to face communications in the presence of a teacher.…

The "Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice" (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2008) seek to communicate standards that will prepare graduates to function within a complex healthcare system. The document highlights concepts from patient-centered care to evidence-based practice (Commission on…

This paper examines the impact of supplementary web-based materials on students' academic performance in a first-year economics unit at university. In particular, the paper considers the impact of students' usage of the unit's webpage, voluntary on-line discussion board, voluntary on-line quizzes and voluntary on-line homework questions on their…

A Framework for K-12 Science Education (NRC 2012) includes inheritance as a core idea within the life science framework. For example, life science core idea 3A states that by the end of second grade, children's knowledge should include the ability to recognize and investigate physical differences and similarities among the same kind of…

The Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) in New York City is fourth among all community colleges in awarding degrees to minority students and in awarding degrees to African Americans. The BMCC student body is approximately 37 percent Hispanic, 33 percent black, 15 percent white, and 15 percent Asian. In addition, a significant proportion…

This article describes how one of the authors, second-grade teacher Lisa A. Brooks, challenged the raise-your-hand to-speak rule. Her desire to make this change was a result of experiences gained in a graduate class taught by the second author, Juli K. Dixon. Brooks had learned that it is possible to create a classroom community where students…

In this article, I first take on the issue of standards and the degree to which they do or do not contribute to the improvement of language and literacy outcomes for children in multilingual societies. Then I consider the relation of standards to language and, finally, raise the vexed issue of content knowledge and its relation to standards, on…

A "Framework for K-12 Science Education"'s disciplinary core idea PS1.A states that students should know by the end of grade 2 that different kinds of matter exist and many of them can be solid or liquid, depending on temperature (NRC 2012). By the end of grade 8, they describe solids, liquids, and gases by the arrangement and…

Increased emphasis on meeting state standards, more stringent requirements for designation as highly qualified, and intensified accountability for student performance have foisted new expectations upon teachers and stimulated changes in professional development models in which the greater urgency is clearly to attend to the teacher's role as…

This study considers reading comprehension as a dialogic transaction of making meaning from text. The concept of text and reading is taken to include the visual and multimodal as well as written forms. Case studies of children discussing texts are analysed to explore how children engage in inter-mental and intra-mental processes of reading,…

Computer-supported collaborative learning is a common e-learning activity. Instructors have to create appropriate social and instructional interventions in order to promote effective learning. We performed a study that examined the effects of two popular leadership interventions, transformational and transactional, on cognitive effort and outcomes…

The conversation starts quickly as two students come together in a 10th grade social studies classroom, half-way through a role play activity a symposium begins. Both students are sporting "Hello, my name is…" stickers on their shirts, and each attempts to speak in character. One represents an anti-whaling activist. Helen stands holding…

The use of peer learning and peer assessment has gained considerable interest in higher education driven by both its educational value and by its ability to provide students with the opportunity to develop important transferrable skills. This paper reports on the use of peer learning and peer assessment with a cohort of four-year undergraduate…