We describe a simple classroom activity that demonstrated the process of assessing predictive validity. We assessed changes in student understanding of the process, confidence in psychological testing, and enjoyment in participating in the exercise. Students who completed the activity performed better on a test question about validity and reported…

Everything moves. Even apparently stationary objects such as houses, roads, or mountains are moving because they sit on a spinning planet orbiting the Sun. Not surprisingly, the concepts of motion and the forces that affect moving objects are an integral part of the middle school science curriculum. However, middle school students are often taught…

When watching a small child with a toy car, it is seen that interest in motion comes early. Children often suggest speed through sounds such as "RRRrrrRRRooooommMMMmmmm" as the toy car is made to speed up, slow down, or accelerate through a turn. Older children start to consider force and motion studies in more detail, and experiences in school…

A sample of 131 10--14-year-old Dutch children with reading and spelling difficulties received a treatment for dyslexia. The treatment was computer-based and focused on learning to recognise and use the phonological and morphological structure of Dutch words. The treatment consisted of several modules, each addressing specific links between…

In this paper, I describe part of my research project that examines the use of Educational Drama in Education for Sustainability in the upper stages of the primary school (10- and 11-year-olds). Central to the research is a small-scale qualitative research study. Here, I describe the educational focus of the study and outline the methodology.…

This paper examines how emerging materials and associated methods became inscribed within and have shaped developing patterns of practice in environmental education. In so doing, it gives attention to how materials and methods have informed methodological narratives and shaped abstracted propositions used in professional development activities.…

This paper begins with a brief outline of the philosophical and methodological basis and the corresponding early education classroom practice envisaged and advocated by the current child-centred Irish Primary School Curriculum (1999). In the context of an overall 'fidelity-type' study, which sought to examine the degree to which the aforementioned…

In this article I will discuss the route by which I came to work with Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT). The brief tracing of my own biography will highlight theoretical and methodological milestones. I will then discuss my current work, with colleagues, on approaches to investigating and improving the learning of professionals who are…

Although everybody agrees that education reform is needed, there is little agreement on the nature of the problems, and certainly not on the remedies; nevertheless, there is a central focus on curriculum issues. Three principal points are addressed in this paper: (a) new approaches in education are urgently needed, (b) new educational approaches…

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the impact of internationalisation on academic work within a department of management in a large Australian university. It has been argued elsewhere that internationalisation strategies have transformed the nature and demands of academic work through the massification and commodification of educational…

Expressivity is generally regarded as a crucial component of a successful musical performance, but at present there is little knowledge of how it is addressed in instrumental music education. To achieve a better understanding of how teachers approach expressivity, instrumental music teachers (n =51) from music conservatoires in Sweden and England…

This paper examines some of the ways in which subject review can contribute to the scholarship of teaching. Subject review was a quality assessment process conducted under the auspices of the UK's Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education. A preliminary discussion considers the potential and pitfalls of using subject review as a basis for…

Norway has a long tradition of using external examiners during examinations and grading. However, a recently passed higher education reform requires a different use for external examiners. The Quality Reform of Higher Education calls for more learning-oriented assessment methods, allowing more feedback for students during the course of their…

Instances of intimidation and harassment of junior doctors and medical students have been widely reported in the literature. Studies to date have mostly focused on the incidence of perceived mistreatment and have not explored the causes of or responses to it. This article reports findings from an ethnographic study of a single British medical…

This paper reports a critique of the literature of problem-based learning (PBL) in medical education. The objective of the review was to examine the various meanings that medical teachers attribute to concepts of adult learning and self-directed learning within the context of PBL. The critique found that there are assumptions about the meanings of…