This chapter provides an overview of the Interactive Strategy Tutor for Active Reading and Thinking-2 (iSTART-2). iSTART-2 is a game-based tutoring system designed to improve students' reading comprehension skills. It does so by providing them with instruction on how to self-explain using comprehension strategies. In this chapter, we first discuss…

There is a need for critical thinking skills in our society. This research study examines graduate student's growth in critical thinking after experiencing a specifically designed curriculum. This study evaluated the effectiveness of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff Officer Common Core Course to change student critical thinking skills and…

Recent debate in the educational sphere highlights the continuing dilemma that is the creation and implementation of a true 21st century classroom in secondary schools across Australia. A difficulty with these ongoing attempts to reform teaching and learning is the behaviourist educational paradigm through which Western schools operate. This…

The emphasis placed on the need to develop and improve the skills of teachers in order to ensure that every child has a highly effective teacher has led to research that indicates that factors other than educational background and experience influence teacher behaviors. Research in the area of teacher development and learning indicated that…

The retail industry is a huge and growing sector of the U.S. economy, accounting for about 10 percent of the nation's jobs in 2013 and projected to increase by 7 percent between 2012 and 2022. The sheer size of the industry and the number of employment opportunities it affords low-skilled workers led MDRC to explore the potential of the retail…

Researchers have conducted both theoretical and empirical research on the participation of youth in sports to understand the motivation to continue involvement. Researchers have further examined the positive effects of sports on youth who participate. Although information has been gathered in these areas regarding keeping middle school and high…

In the United States today organizational leaders are concerned with skills gaps, or the limited availability of qualified workers to fill open positions. The reason for their concern is the impact of skills gaps on organizational performance in a number of areas including productivity, customer satisfaction, profitability, and the ability to…

Skills associated with collaborative problem solving (CPS), especially in STEM-related disciplines, are increasingly regarded as essential for success in work and life. In the last decade, simulation-based games have emerged as rich environments for the situated learning of such skills, and are instrumental in the study of CPS because they provide…

It is widely accepted that inclusion is the educational expression of normalisation, whereby the child is provided with all possible opportunities which are similarly given to his mainstream counterparts. The current work examines the features and services of the inclusive education programme of New Era University, a higher education institution…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to answer the research question: "Do different pedagogies used in teaching entrepreneurship education influence individual skill development, which then in turn translates into a likelihood of entrepreneurial implementation intention?" Design/methodology/approach: The number of total participants for…

Employability has become an important focus for graduates and employers in Australia, as many universities contend with the notion of developing knowledgeable and problem-solving graduates who are workforce ready practitioners. This paper presents an example of how the higher education communication disciplines from across Victoria, Australia,…

This exploratory study demonstrates the effectiveness of using practice-based and client-focused active learning exercises to develop applied skills and better position the student as a candidate with both practical competencies and strong book knowledge. Findings from surveys of business managers indicate the need for real-world application of…

This paper aims to identify key issues involved in MEd final project supervision and to highlight the potential of supervision from an academic institution to change educational reality through the postgraduate student-teachers' work-based final project as insider researchers in Israeli schools. It draws on analysis of case-study data from two…

The present study employed a quasi-experimental design to assess a computer-based tool, which was intended to scaffold the task of designing experiments when using a virtual lab for the process of experimentation. In particular, we assessed the impact of this tool on primary school students' cognitive processes and inquiry skills before and after…

The paper reports on an empirical study adopting a mixed research method, aiming at improving primary students' collaborative problem solving competency in project-based learning with productive failure (PF) instructional design in a seamless learning environment. Two Grade Six classes participated in a project-based learning of "Plant…