Limited research exists on what preservice teachers know and believe about children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and their inclusion in general education classrooms, especially in early childhood education. In this preliminary study, knowledge and attitudes of 15 early childhood preservice teachers at a large southeastern university were…

The objective of this study is to determine how students who are taking synchronous distance education classes via video conferencing perceive distance learning courses. A qualitative research approach was used for the study. Scale sampling was also used. The study's subjects consisted of a total of nine students comprised of 2nd and 4th grade…

Extensive engagement with current academic sources is expected of all psychology undergraduates. Thirty-eight undergraduate psychology students took part in a series of focus group discussions of their information-searching experiences and skills. The majority of students had not been required to engage with any form of information searching while…

Background: Case-based learning (CBL) is simply teaching the concept to the students based on the cases. CBL involves a case, which is a scenario based on daily life, and study questions related to the case, which allows students to discuss their ideas. Chemical kinetics is one of the most difficult concepts for students in chemistry. Students…

This article provides examples of how serious misconceptions can result when only "all student" scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) are used for simplistic state-to-state comparisons. Suggestions for better treatment are presented. The article also compares Kentucky's eighth grade EXPLORE testing to NAEP…

In this article, the author focuses on a case study of an African-American teacher's perceptions about teaching and instructional practices in an urban middle school, Bridge Middle School. He provides a counter to some negative conceptions of Black teachers in general through a focus on this teacher: the way she thinks about her roles and…

"Alabama Education News" is published monthly except for June, July, and December by the Alabama Department of Education. This publication, authorized by Section 16-2-4 of the "Code of Alabama", as recompiled in 1975, is a public service of the Alabama Department of Education designed to inform citizens and educators about…

The increase in publications presenting molecular evolutionary analyses and the availability of comparative sequence data through resources such as NCBI's GenBank underscore the necessity of providing undergraduates with hands-on sequence analysis skills in an evolutionary context. This need is particularly acute given that students have been…

The objective of this study was to test the efficacy of specially designed educational materials to correct misperceptions held by smokers about nicotine, nicotine medications, low tar cigarettes, filters and product ingredients. To accomplish this, 682 New York State Smokers' Quitline callers were randomized to one of two groups: control group…

This work uses the concepts and tools of complexity theory to examine the effect of logical thinking and two cognitive styles, such as, the degree of field dependence/independence and the convergent/divergent thinking on students' understanding of the structure of matter. Students were categorized according to the model they adopted for the…

Today scabies, an ectoparasitic skin disease caused by the mite "Sarcoptes scabiei" variety "hominis", is estimated to infect over 300 million humans worldwide. Scabies most frequently occurs among children and young adults. Outbreaks in child care facilities and schools are common. Scabies affects all socioeconomic classes and races. Students…

This paper provides a reply to Woodman's (2009) recent argument that youth studies often incorrectly attribute the concept of "choice biographies" to the work of Ulrich Beck. Drawing heavily on Beck's own words, this paper contends that youth researchers might not be making this association unduly. Consideration is paid to some conceptual issues…

This paper reports on a survey of 358 respondents across 25 African countries into their usage of learning management systems. It concludes that while there are some enthusiastic advocates of such systems, the reality is that most African educators as yet have little knowledge about, or interest in, their usage. There remain very considerable…

How doctoral programs train future researchers in quantitative methods has important implications for the quality of scientifically based research in education. The purpose of this article, therefore, is to examine how quantitative methods are used in the literature and taught in doctoral programs. Evidence points to deficiencies in quantitative…

This study focused on the development and application of a three-tier multiple-choice diagnostic test (or three-tier test) on the nature and propagation of waves. A question in a three-tier test comprises the "content tier", which measures content knowledge; the "reason tier", which measures explanatory knowledge; and the…