This study examined elementary education pre-service teachers' attitudes towards biotechnology processes. A sample comprised 88 elementary education pre-service teachers at a mid-sized university in the Midwest of the USA. Sixty and 28 of these pre-service teachers were enrolled in Introductory Science Methods course and Advance Science Methods…

The purpose of this study was to analyze how one exceptional elementary physical education teacher navigated her working environment as the teacher of a marginal subject. Structuration Theory (Giddens, 1984) was used to make meaning of how the teacher functioned within her school community allowing her to remain motivated and effective. Data…

This article presents first results of an ethnographic research project in a Luxembourgish primary school that accompanied the development of a school project by children from the fifth grade. Analysing the data children themselves collected with Kodak Zi8 cameras in order to document their project activities, it investigates their possibilities…

Many inquiries regarding the causal effects of policies or programs are based on research designs where the treatment assignment process is unknown, and thus valid inferences depend on tenuous assumptions about the assignment mechanism. This article draws attention to the importance of understanding the assignment mechanism in policy and program…

Making connections between science concepts taught in school and real-world phenomena is considered important in engaging students in learning. The present study examines students' abilities to relate their in-school science learning to everyday experiences at home. The sample comprised 200 senior secondary chemistry students drawn from Ondo…

This study which dealt with the localization in education and strengthening the participation of parents in school administrations was a descriptive research. In this research, where qualitative design was used, purposeful sampling method was preferred. A work group consisting of 15 schools administrators who were working in schools with varying…

This article investigates how activity theory can help research a constructionist community. We present a constructionist activity model called CONstructionism Through ACtivity Theory (CONTACT) model and explain how it can be used to analyse the constructionist activity in knowledge building communities. We then illustrate the model through its…

The purpose of this article is to introduce a 12-step approach for an abbreviated research project to promote research writing in an undergraduate measurement course. This 12-step approach assumes a 14-week semester schedule that is common among many colleges and universities. The steps for the proposed research project include selecting a topic,…

The critical communicative methodology (CCM) is a methodological response to the dialogic turn of societies and sciences that has already had an important impact in transforming situations of inequality and exclusion. Research conducted with the CCM implies continuous and egalitarian dialogue among researchers and the people involved in the…

This study analyses the experiences of youth workers in dealing with challenging behaviour among young people. The findings from a qualitative approach to the collection and analysis of data from 45 research participants are presented. The paper begins by briefly exploring the context of youth work in Ireland and outlining the research process.…

In order to shed light on the possibilities for using sport as a vehicle for the realization of social goods--understood as sport having a wider social role--this paper scrutinizes Norwegian sport clubs. The study is guided by the concept of convention, which refers to individuals' cognitive structures, and to social structure. Three sport clubs…

Problem-based learning (PBL) is one approach to teaching science that supports the notion that students construct knowledge within contextual settings, and that critical thinking and application are best fostered within these realistic contexts. In other words, learning activities are best applied when they are authentic or embedded in real-life…

Major advances in the number, capabilities, and quality of state, national, and transnational databases have opened up new opportunities for evaluators. Both large-scale data sets collected for administrative purposes and those collected by other researchers can provide data for a variety of evaluation-related activities. These include (a)…

The preparation of a short Brazilian piano piece by graduate and undergraduate students (N = 15) was monitored to verify the following dimensions of self-regulation in the learning process: method, time, behaviour and social/cultural factors. Because preparation occurred without help from teachers, participants were encouraged to reveal the…

We describe a targeted professional development (PD) intervention designed to improve the quality of individualized family service plans (IFSPs) and to support IFSP planning, development, and decision making. The theoretical and empirical foundations for the PD intervention and its key components are reviewed. Building on an established online…