The purpose of this paper is to describe the relevance of a qualitative methodology called portraiture for science education. Portraiture is a method of inquiry that blends art and science by combining the empirical aspects of inquiry with beauty and aesthetic properties. This method encompasses all aspects of a research study, including protocol,…

The study explores the role of play in Grade R classrooms in the Cape Peninsula. The focus is on perceptions of teachers from differing backgrounds regarding how play is supported and utilised in the classroom. Theories of childhood play as propounded by Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky provide the theoretical background to our understanding of child…

Reading comprehension skill is an important aspect of language acquisition that has far-reaching implications on the life of any student. Weak comprehension ability invariably affects not only students' performance in English language, but it hinders competence in other critical fields. Reading comprehension skills are not being taught in ways to…

The purpose of this research was to better understand instructors' espousal and enactment of technology for teaching English as a second language and how their espousal aligned with their enactment. Six instructors from one intensive English program participated in interviews and observations. Key personnel and students provided additional…

The Common Core Standards require students to learn content and mathematical practices, and so teachers must have content knowledge and be able to engage in practices themselves. This raises the question of how novice teachers learn to engage in mathematical practices. I investigate pre-service secondary teacher learning of mathematical practices…

Can professional development (PD) have a profound and lasting effect on participating teachers? The purpose of this study was to understand how teachers learn new mathematics content in professional development in order to contribute to the open question of how PD affects teachers' actual instructional choices in the classroom. Teachers were…

Although English language learners (ELLs) are one of the fastest growing groups of students in the United States, many teacher preparation programs have yet to require preservice teachers (PSTs) to receive training in effective practices for teaching ELLs. We examined a four-week field experience pairing an elementary PST with an ELL. We examined…

We compared classroom interactions during two episodes in a seventh grade virtual mathematics class. Both episodes were drawn from virtual live lessons utilizing different lesson layouts. We investigated how mathematical knowledge was negotiated in both episodes. The results show that the layout of live lessons had an effect on how students shared…

Despite improvements, the primary education system in Haiti remains highly inefficient: children start primary school 2 years late on average, and fewer than 60% will reach the last grade of the cycle. While the official age for beginning primary school is 6, the average child enters first grade for the first time at 7.8 years old, after having…

Over the past several years, research teams have developed observational instruments to measure the quality of teachers' instructional practices. Instruments such as Framework for Teaching (FFT) and the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) assess general teaching practices, including student-teacher interactions, behavior management, and…

In order to examine the effectiveness of instruction, the authors confront formidable statistical problems, including multivariate structure of classroom observations, longitudinal dependence of both classroom observations and student outcomes. As the authors begin to examine instruction, classroom observations involve multiple variables for which…

Mobile devices and the interactions that these technologies afford have the potential to change the face and nature of education in our schools. Indeed, mobile technological advances are seen to offer better access to educational material and new interactive ways to learn. However, the question arises, as to whether these new technologies are…

Teaching is an ever-evolving profession, one in which teachers must stay abreast of recent research and trends to continually deepen their knowledge and refine their skills. Therefore, teachers need high quality professional learning opportunities to help them master the content they teach and strengthen their teaching skills. Professional…

In Maori medium schools, research that investigates children's mathematical computation with number and connections they might make to mathematical ideas in other strands is limited. This paper seeks to share ideas elicited in a task-based observation and interview with one child about the number ideas she utilises to solve a problem requiring…

In this paper, an examination of students' relationships with mathematics is informed by affective research into internal mathematical structures and identity research into students' narratives. By analysing the perceptions of a class of 31 adolescents, five interacting elements emerged: students' views, feelings, mathematical knowledge,…