Nanotechnology refers to the research and technology development at the atomic, molecular, or macromolecular levels, in the length scale of approximately 1-100 nanometer range, that provides a fundamental understanding of phenomena and materials at the nanoscale and creates and use structures, devices, and systems that have novel properties and…

A major policy objective of the Australian Government is to provide all young people with strong foundations in numeracy. This article reports on a national project coordinated by Deakin University. The project, entitled "Primary numeracy: A mapping, review and analysis of Australian research in numeracy learning at the primary school…

Ordinary performance improvement tips, techniques, and principles that are taken for granted today have their roots in extraordinary research. Today, the learning principle that states that things that occur together tend to be recalled together is widely accepted, and this principle of association as an instructional technique is often used. How…

This paper makes a case that when teachers and school leaders (administrators) engage in site-based action research they become more efficacious leaders. This paper reviews eight years of research work of site-based research projects completed by school-based personnel as well as the experiences of teachers and school administrators who have…

Twenty-eight researchers whose work is related to Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) met in February 2006 at UNESCO for three days of discussion to advance the thinking on how research can create a foundation for the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (UNDESD). The overall purpose of the workshop was to…

When Blackboard unveiled its U.S. patent for 44 features of learning management systems and then filed a patent infringement suit against Design2Learn, the response of the educational technology community was negative and swift. Stephen Downes discusses why many educators oppose Blackboard's proprietary claims to technologies long considered in…

While the current debate in the evaluation community has concentrated on examining and explicating implications of the choice of methods for evaluating federal programs, the authors of this paper address the challenges faced by the government in the selection of funding mechanisms for supporting program evaluation efforts. The choice of funding…

Following a rise in university-industry relationships (UIRs), scholars began questioning the efficacy of those relationships, as well as whether industry and university research interests and integrity are being compromised. Although many of these studies focus on the university, few examine the perspectives of industry participants. We conducted…

Although the work of learning scientists and instructional designers has brought about countless curricula, designs, and theoretical claims, the community has been less active in communicating the explicit and implicit critical social agendas that result (or could result) from their work. It is our belief that the community of learning scientists…

Knowledge transfer (KT) is the emergent "third sector" of higher education activity--alongside research and teaching. Its commercialization origins are evidenced in its concerns to extract maximum value from research, and in the policy push to make research-based knowledge trapped in disciplinary silos more responsive to the growing…

Although research studies in education show that use of technology can help student learning, its use is generally affected by certain barriers. In this paper, we first identify the general barriers typically faced by K-12 schools, both in the United States as well as other countries, when integrating technology into the curriculum for…

This study examined how 498 elementary and secondary educators use student response systems in their instruction. The teachers all completed an online questionnaire designed to learn about their goals for using response systems, the instructional strategies they employ when using the system, and the perceived effects of response systems.…

Complex computer and video games may provide a vehicle, based on appropriate theoretical concepts, to transform the educational landscape. Building on the original game object model (GOM) a new more detailed model is developed to support concepts that educational computer games should: be relevant, explorative, emotive, engaging, and include…

We are entering a new phase in learning about childhood disabilities. While we have found out much of what we need to know about their causes and aetiology, solutions to many of the challenges we will face in the future will come from the evidence base held by practitioners. Practitioners are ideally placed to carry out "real world" research but…

In 2001, the U.S. Department of Education and the Ministry of Education in China entered into a bilateral partnership to develop a technology-driven approach to foreign language learning that integrated gaming, immersion, voice recognition, problem-based learning tasks, and other features that made it a significant research and development pilot…