Science education research predominantly shows that students improve their scientific understandings when they tinker (or pull apart) tools and simple household machines. In this study, the qualitative data collected took the form of online journal entries by final year, female, primary teacher trainees, who reflected upon their early childhood…

Despite the expanded use of the Internet for language learning and practice, little attention if any has been given to the quality of interaction among English L2 speakers in conversational text or voice chat rooms. This study explored the patterns of repair moves in synchronous non-native speaker (NNS) text chat rooms in comparison to voice chat…

The re-birth of South Africa in 1994 has brought the implementation of effective educational policies. Simultaneously, the Outcomes-Based Education (OBE) approach has been introduced to advance the teaching and learning of the Learning areas in schools in South Africa. This article focuses on the learning of English as a Second Language (ESL) in…

In 2000, the Senior Mentor Program was implemented as an innovative, instructional method in the University of South Carolina's medical school curriculum designed to enhance and strengthen student training in geriatrics. This study qualitatively analyzed second-year medical students' and senior participants' perceptions of and attitudes towards…

This qualitative research was designed to investigate students' health needs and their views on health promotion in a University. A total of 31 students participated in focus group discussions. Inductive analysis revealed two central themes: student health concerns and health promotion in a University setting. The former included issues associated…

Diversity related dispositions (understanding, tolerance, and respect) of prospective teachers are crucial aspects of today's teacher preparation programs. Can prospective teachers challenge and change their diversity-related dispositions through the use of Teaching Tolerance's culturally responsive curriculum materials? Students watched the…

Over the last two decades there has been an increase in the use of qualitative research, particularly in the human sciences. Such a move has resulted in an increasing number of researchers across disciplines using various types of qualitative software specially designed for managing text and facilitating analysis of qualitative data. However, we…

This article questions why a somewhat singular focus on orphanhood in the context of AIDS persists despite important shifts to more inclusive terminology of "orphans and vulnerable children." Analysis of data from South Africa raises questions about the "spin" placed on "orphanhood" and its perceived consequences for…

International comparative studies revealed that US students' mathematics performance is not at the level of expectation of mathematics education community. The latest of such study is, Third international Mathematics Science Study-Repeat (TIMSS-R, 1999) continued show poor performance of US students in international arena. Total of 38 countries…

In a study investigating the effects of student engagement in inquiry learning through the development of Web sites, nearly every student reported having enjoyed the project, and the majority scored an A or B for their project grade. However, neither enjoyment nor high achievement on this performance task necessarily translated into high scores on…

Introduction: changes in educational policy and practice demand that we examine school library programmes from a new perspective. As a model that takes a developmental view of minds in context, Cultural Historical Activity Theory is particularly well suited to the study of school libraries and the learning that occurs therein. This paper focuses…

This thesis reports on a study in which 10 Swedish special education teachers were interviewed concerning the following six topics: (1) personal background and choice of a career; (2) professional knowledge; (3) the role of a special education teacher; (4) educational goals and methods; (5) cooperation; and (6) thoughts about the future.…

This report describes an extension of the Learning Outcomes Study (a nationwide longitudinal investigation of 1,010 students just entering programs for gifted learners in grades 2 and 3) to investigate excellence within each of the four program types considered: within-class programs, pull-out programs, separate classes, and special schools. The…

Focusing on the theme of what literacy is and how it grows, this book presents 25 essays and studies that explore literacy growth in young children, teens, college students, and adults. Essays and studies in the book are (1) "Kindergarten Children's Uses of Oral Language and Social Interaction in Literacy Activities during Unstructured Play" (J.K.…

This study investigated whether students of physiotherapy experienced the concepts "health,""movement,""function," and "interaction" differently during formal education and after some professional experience. Data were gathered by interviewing two groups of physiotherapy students at Linkoping University…