The actual and preferred classroom experiences of 11 teachers and their 254 secondary students were surveyed. Our survey focused on nine dimensions of effective teaching. In contrast to existing research, in which dimensions of teaching practice are experimenter-defined, our survey reflected the educator standards of a particular state (Texas).…

Many English language learners (ELL) struggle to function in English-only classes and to compete with their native English-speaking peers, and tend not to fare well on high-stakes testing. One such example is the Vietnamese American students at City Middle School whose reading levels ranged from an alarming 1.5 to 4 (mid-year first grade to fourth…

National history and collective memory and their impact on adolescents' knowledge and attitudes are the topic of this article. A follow-up study, it examines the long-term impact of a journey to historical monuments. Israeli Jewish high-school students have the option of experiential study, visiting cities and death camps in Poland. The first…

Guided reading is an important component of a comprehensive literacy program. Using this approach to reading instruction is beneficial to all students, including English-language learners (ELLs). While guided reading is generally used in the early elementary grades, this approach is recommended for ELLs of all ages when appropriate methods and…

Evidence of a gap in student understanding has been well documented in chemistry: the typical student holds an abundance of misconceptions. The current expectation is that educational reform will foster greater student achievement via inquiry teaching within classrooms. Using assessments involving both conceptual and algorithmic knowledge of gas…

In the academic year 2004-2005, approximately 400,000 immigrant pupils were enrolled in Spanish schools and six-form colleges. The racial and ethnic diversity that Spanish society and schools present could be a source of new opportunities and social enrichment, for the national as well as the immigrant population. However, this contact between…

In this paper we examine the discourses of Primary school numeracy coordinators responsible for auditing, monitoring and supporting their colleagues in relation to the introduction and embedding of the National Numeracy Strategy (NNS) in the UK. Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) focuses our analysis on the contradictory coupling of…

Popular media such as films, television programmes/commercials and magazines have become the dominant source through which children learn about others and their world, develop attitudes and beliefs as manifested in media expressions, and formulate their sense of identity. Popular media have enormous influence on children who are constantly…

In this article, the authors use social network analysis and multilevel modeling to examine a central feature of classroom social organization: the ethnic composition of the classroom. They examine classroom ethnic composition as it relates to patterns of social integration between African American and European American children. They asked…

Background: Over the past 20 years or so policy and practice on the education of children with special educational needs (SEN) has been aimed at placing increasing numbers of children in a mainstream school environment. Although this policy has been supported in principle by many teachers, parents and local authority officers, there has been much…

For teacher educators, genre-based pedagogies offer a valuable resource for assisting both pre- and in-service writing instructors to assist their students to produce effective and relevant texts. Instead of focusing on the process of composition, the content of texts, or the abstract prescriptions of disembodied grammars, genre pedagogies enable…

This paper examines task design that affords deep changes in mathematical thinking in the context of peer interaction. We describe a study in which 60 low-level high-school students solved a proportional reasoning task, the "blocks" task as individuals and/or in dyadic interaction. We show that we could tailor the design of the task in order to…

Professors often expect students to have the skills that are necessary to participate in discussions. Students, on the other hand, have been trained to glean information from the lecture format; their prior experiences in discussions are likely to be limited to personal opinions on topics such as stem-cell research or evolution. Sudden changes in…

Recent mathematics education reform efforts call for the instantiation of mathematics classroom environments where students have opportunities to reason and construct their understandings as part of a community of learners. Despite some successes, traditional models of instruction still dominate the educational landscape. This limited success can…

This study investigated 160 student teachers' and 158 experienced teachers' self-reported computer usage and their future intentions to use computer applications for school assignments. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was used as the framework to determine computer usage and intentions. Statistically significant results showed that after…