Efforts to promote more realistic conceptions about science are often limited by teachers' inexperience in this domain. In this paper, we describe an 'inductive-deductive, dialectic immersion' approach towards assisting teachers in developing more realistic conceptions about science--along with corresponding revised perspectives about science…

In this article we describe the mutual development of a school system in a poor rural county with one of its teachers. We recount the conditions leading to the coordination and writing of a Technology Literacy Challenge Fund proposal to ameliorate inadequate computer technology and initiate pedagogical change. We apply the expansive methodology of…

One goal of college technical writing courses is to prepare students for real-world writing situations. Business writing textbooks function similarly, using guidelines, sample assignments, and model documents to help students develop rhetorical strategies to use in the workplace. Students attend class, or read and perform exercises in a textbook,…

Like most academic libraries, Purdue University Calumet depends heavily on student workers for its daily operations. After the investment of time and effort involved in training student workers, it is important to retain them from one year to the next. This case study examines training procedures that are designed to cultivate a sense of mutual…

In higher education circles, it has become commonplace to observe that global awareness must be an important educational goal if students are to cope successfully as citizens and professionals with the challenges of globalization. Yet despite the growing acknowledgment that international education must be a central priority, most indicators…

One of the most noticeable changes to the university student profile over the last decade is the increasing number of mature-age students. This study examined the relationship between previous academic performance, psychological characteristics of the student, learning strategies, and the first year academic performance of school leavers and…

Studies suggest that three and four-year old children who are exposed to preschool have a greater chance of academic success throughout their schooling. This article highlights a five-year case study of children of poverty who attended a structured preschool in Salinas, California. The longitudinal study exposed various components of a successful…

In this article the author discusses the communicative encounters--oral and written--between members of two discourse communities--human resources (HR) and faculty--housed within an urban university in the Northeast. The author focuses on one individual's attempts to articulate and impose a component of her community's implicit rules for behavior…

The analysis of calls to a help desk, in this case calls to a computer help desk, can serve as a rich source of information on the real world problems that individuals are having with the implementation of a new technology. Thus, we propose that an analysis of help desk calls, a form of problem-based inquiry, can serve as a fast and low cost means…

Despite the imperatives of policy and rhetoric about their integration in formal education, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are often used as an "add-on" in many classrooms and in many lesson plans. Nevertheless, many teachers find that interesting and well-planned tasks, projects, and resources provide a key to…

The present study introduces and demonstrates a new methodology for item and test bias studies: "moderated differential item functioning (DIF)." This technique expands the DIF methodology to incorporate contextual and sociological variables as moderating or mediating effects of the DIF. Specifically, this paper explores differential…

Variability stands in the heart of statistics theory and practice. Concepts and judgments involved in comparing groups have been found to be a productive vehicle for motivating learners to reason statistically and are critical for building the intuitive foundation for inferential reasoning. The focus in this paper is on the emergence of beginners'…

Teacher education programmes are often quite similar in their framework and content but often lack sufficient reflection on the personal background and the socio-political forces that shape teachers' roles and identity within the systems in which they operate. This paper explores this issue by using Ghana as a case study and discusses implications…

Recent developments about cognitions underlying mathematical learning are beginning to suggest that the activation and appropriate use of prior knowledge by students is, to a large measure, controlled by the quality of organisation of that knowledge. Thus, teaching needs to support the construction of well-connected mathematical knowledge. An…

This paper describes an evaluation of a web-based consultation space (a dynamic frequently asked questions environment--DFAQ) in which learners consult one another using questions, and in which both the flow of interaction and its artefacts become a resource available to a community of learners. The DFAQ is a special form of a…