The importance of algebra instruction has increased in the United States in the past few years. Thus, in most states, middle school students are required to take Algebra 1. Middle school students with math difficulties in inclusion algebra settings may require a different instructional approach. The purpose of this research was to compare student…

Staff development is aimed at changing practice. Change creates conflict. Little work has been done to gain insight into the conflict that teachers experience in the implementation of staff development. This study examines conflict in a staff development project aimed at increasing teachers' knowledge and implementation of problem-based integrated…

Background: Recent studies have suggested that cognitive biases may play an important mediating role in aggressive outbursts from people with mild intellectual disabilities (IDs). Essentially, some individuals may frequently perceive other people as acting towards them in a hostile fashion. This biased perception may develop through repeated…

This paper reviews many of the observed characteristics and study habits of first-year students in Iowa State University's electrical engineering programme (Ames, Iowa, USA). The studying and problem-solving practices of the students are discussed to identify salient traits, strengths and weaknesses, and critical symptoms thereof, which can affect…

In this article, we discuss the use of client-driven projects--projects that are posed by business, government, and non-profit organizations and based upon real problems facing the organization. Although client-driven projects have long been used in business and engineering education, their use in the mathematics classroom is rare. Client-driven…

Seven years of industrial experience followed by 30 years of academic research and teaching in structural engineering have led the author to believe that the prime objective of a university design course is not the design project itself but to train students to solve problems, as this will last them throughout their careers. It is shown how design…

This paper presents the application of the problem-based learning (PBL) method as an innovative approach to teaching engineering. This paper supports the idea that the PBL method is aptly suited to teaching the engineering disciplines, as its methodology nurtures critical thinking and problem-solving skills, which are central to a graduate's…

This study examines the effects of the Community Action service learning project, part of the Learn and Serve America program, on gifted adolescents and their community. Using a case study design, the author investigates this service learning project grounded in creative problem solving. The importance of service learning to the participants is…

This article looks at how the discipline of rhetoric may be helpful when thinking about methods for social justice. Specifically, it explores how rhetoric and composition can help those interested in social justice to construct knowledge that is both multidisciplinary and intercultural, to view the constructive processes of research participants,…

For all the fractious debate in America over the state of public schools, those on the political Left and Right agree that the "achievement gaps" are real. But what do most people mean when they say "achievement gaps"? Gaps in standardized test scores, of course. The gaps consist of the differences between the test scores of…

On December 3, 2004, President Bush signed into law the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA, 2004). The revised law is different from the previous version in at least one important respect. Whereas practitioners were previously encouraged to use IQ-achievement discrepancy to identify children with learning disabilities…

The purpose of this study was to examine (a) the reports of conflict strategies and goals in response to hypothetical conflict situations, (b) generation of solutions to hypothetical conflicts, and (c) conflict in observed dyadic exchanges in children with high and low depressive symptoms. Children from Grades 4, 5, and 6 were divided into high…

An important outcome of Singapore's education system is the development of creative thinking skills. This project investigates the impact of a creative dance unit on a class of Primary One (seven-year-old) children's usage of bodily kinaesthetic intelligence to solve problems. One key objective was for the researchers to observe something new,…

We previously conducted a curriculum analysis of third-grade mathematics textbooks aimed at investigating the extent to which teaching the recommended methods for problem solving adhered to the 2000 National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Standards and instructional design criteria. In this article, we extend the previous findings by…

Enzyme kinetics is a difficult subject for students to learn and for tutors to teach. During the practicals included in the biochemical courses at the Faculty of Chemistry of Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, we found that the students acquire good training in the calculations to obtain kinetic parameters such as K[subscript m], V[subscript…