This study used a qualitative phenomenological approach within a constructivist paradigm to examine spelling and spelling motivation of four suburban Illinois high school students: two male seniors with LD, one male freshman with ADHD, and one female freshman with LD. The purposes of the study were to determine why students with writing goals and…

This is a qualitative study that used a sample of nine teachers and two professors of education from six different counties in the Coastal and Piedmont regions of North Carolina to examine whether teachers were trained in their undergraduate education, or through professional development, to use formative assessment techniques in their classrooms.…

Technology purchased for use in the classroom often goes unused. We identify a primary reason for the lack of technology integration as ineffectively developed professional development opportunities for teachers. Then we recommend a sustained, administrative-supported and mentor-supported approach to professional development as an alternative to…

Adopting a constructivist perspective of adolescent development, we argue adolescents' perceptions of "being known" reflect teachers' authentic recognition of adolescents' multiple emerging identities. As such, adolescent perceptions of being known are a distinct factor associated with high school students' engagement in school. A mixed…

This exploratory study in a classroom setting investigates first graders' (age 7-8 years, N = 25) ability to perform analogical reasoning and create their own analogies for two irreversible natural phenomena: mixing and heat transfer. We found that the children who contributed actively to a full-class discussion were consistently successful at…

Mathematics teachers face a myriad of instructional obstacles. Since the early 1990s, mathematics education researchers have proposed the use of constructivist practices to counteract these ever-prevalent obstacles. While we do give credit to the choices of instructional activities the constructivist paradigm promotes, there are problems with its…

Previous research on science education has described various factors influencing students' participation and produced categorizations of students based on e.g. cultural background. In this article it is argued, theoretically and empirically, that an understanding of students' participation in science education needs to begin with an analysis of…

This paper examines undergraduate student perceptions of the learning utility of video podcasts. The perceived and actual effectiveness of the technology was assessed by written questionnaire, focus groups and assessment results. The podcasts were perceived as effective in supporting learning, largely by offering a flexible and visual learning…

Much research in recent years has focused on the introduction of virtual learning environments (VLEs) to universities, documenting practice, and sharing experience ([2], [9], [45] and [58]). Attention has been directed towards the importance of online dialogue for learning as a defining feature of the VLE. Communicative tools are an important…

The author first learned about the Shared Journal approach as a doctoral student in the mid-1980s, and she implemented it in her own kindergarten class with great success. Two decades later, she was listening as her own graduate students introduced themselves and described their experiences with teaching writing. A young kindergarten teacher…

Maintaining reading proficiency throughout summer months is problematic for struggling readers. Conceptually framed by sociocultural constructivism, the purpose of this study was to determine parents' knowledge and understanding of effective research-based literacy instruction and to establish the participants' perceived effect of their…

When people read, they often make connections to their lives, the world, and other texts. Often, these connections are not overt, but are a thinking process invisible to observers. The purpose of this study was to explore the intertextual connections struggling middle school students made as they read multiple topically-related texts to build…

Educational theory has had a significant impact on general education programs over the last 25 years, but a lesser impact on student teachers' practice. A common complaint about student teaching is the long standing problem of theory informing practice. To remedy this disconnect, educational researchers have established the importance of…

This paper reports on a study that explored three Thai physics teachers' conceptions about teaching and their relation to the teachers' teaching practice. Naturalistic inquiry served as the research methodology in order to generate qualitative data through interviews with teachers, classroom observations and the collection of instructional…

The professional identity secondary agriculture teachers display can affect their receptiveness and interest in different professional development events, yet is often overlooked when designing professional development because it is not included in the consensus of proven methods of professional development design and delivery (Desimone, 2009).…