This study examined the effectiveness of a conceptual change teaching strategy over the traditional method on high school students' (N=152) attitudes towards learning biology. The study employed a two-group experimental control design. The experimental group was taught using a conceptual change teaching strategy. A 21-item instrument that is…

This book is designed to help students become better test takers. It is intended for teachers, but would be helpful to parents who think that their children's test scores do not completely represent their knowledge or abilities. Test taking skills are those skills that, when used effectively, contribute to a "test-wise" individual who can use…

This study suggests the use of a systemic process approach to the analysis of students' understanding of biological systems. A unified model was employed to enable the capture of the dynamic nature of biological processes and phenomena. The study is based on the integration of two conceptual frameworks, one related to systems and the other to the…

This report seeks to answer a set of related questions in the context of the United Kingdom: where technology education comes from, what it contributes to the curriculum and what its unique qualities are, and how excellence in students should be assessed. Part 1 describes and analyzes the evolutionary steps in the emergence of technology in the…

This science activity book, for grades 8-12, can be used to teach students the thinking skills they will need to undertake scientific exploration on their own. The skills they develop will improve their science abilities and enhance their overall academic performance. This book is divided into two sections: (1) "Dynamo Demos", teacher-led…

The Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI) is a theory-based assessment and intervention resource intended to improve the quality of career decisions made by adults, college students, and high school students, while at the same time improving the quality of career services delivered to them. It is a self-administered, objectively scored measure of…

This digest discusses the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requirements which state that all students, regardless of their abilities, be given the opportunity to become involved with and progress in the general education curriculum. It describes how educators can use a curriculum that has been universally designed to ensure…

This paper describes the creation and evaluation of a World Wide Web-based courseware module, using conceptual models based on constructivism, that teaches novices how to use the Internet for searching. Questionnaires and interviews were used to understand the difficulties of a group of novices. The conceptual model of the experts for the task was…

This study examined the nature and extent of the applicability of Corno and Mandinach's (1983) self-regulation model in the new context of activities of searching the Internet. Data were collected from observations of 80 undergraduate subjects while they searched the Internet for information, as well as from survey information regarding their…

Developments in the field of brain research that focus on how humans learn is beginning to influence the way schools are being built and renovated. This report discusses how the brain learns, explores how this knowledge can be used to inform learning theory, and describes what instruction would be like in a brain-based learning environment as well…

This study investigated cognitive processes involved in English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students' correcting and revising drafts after receiving oral feedback from their teachers, noting factors that led to better written products and factors that did not improve student writing. The study examined what kinds of revision strategies students…

Diagnostic Cognitive Assessment (DCA) is an alternative dynamic assessment. It aims at measuring cognitive processes for effective learning support and coaching. DCA is embedded in a digital coaching system (DCS) as an executive director. It contains three sub-models: Expert Knowledge Model, Inference Model, and Student Model. While the Expert…

This paper addresses components of a 3-year longitudinal study in which 9th and 10th grade students in Australia, Canada, and Zambia participated in data-handling programs through networked learning communities. Of interest here are the students' responses to a selection of "ends-in-view" problems, which formed the major part of the…

The brain is the organ of knowledge and the organizer of human abilities, the means of recognizing a face in a crowd, of conversing about experiences and images, of forming thoughts and developing ideas, and of instantly understanding words coming rapidly in conversation. This book seeks to explain how the brain accomplishes all that it does.…

For many African American children from low-income backgrounds, cognitive performance can be enhanced in contexts thematically characterized by aspects of Afro-cultural ethos. This report presents and describes the results of six experimental studies (two studies on each) of three cultural themes of primary interest: movement, communalism, and…