There are widespread aspirations to focus undergraduate biology education on teaching students to think conceptually like biologists; however, there is a dearth of assessment tools designed to measure progress from novice to expert biological conceptual thinking. We present the development of a novel assessment tool, the Biology Card Sorting Task,…

The article introduces external quality assessment results of first cycle and second cycle study programmes renewed under the Human Resources Development Action Programme 2007-2013 priority direction 2 "Lifelong Learning" (hereinafter the "Programme") through the aspect of planning students' independent work. Problems faced…

Multiple choice (MC) questions from a graduate physiology course were evaluated by cognitive-psychology (but not physiology) experts, and analyzed statistically, in order to test the independence of content expertise and cognitive complexity ratings of MC items. Integration of higher order thinking into MC exams is important, but widely known to…

The article describes the founding principles, work program, and accomplishments of a Reference Group with both expert and layperson stakeholders for the corrosion of copper canisters in a proposed deep repository in Sweden for spent nuclear fuel. The article sets the Reference Group as a participatory effort within a broader context of…

Purpose: In contrast to clinician-as-expert models, social models of clinical practice typically acknowledge people with aphasia as equal partners in intervention. Given this, there may be a place within speech-language pathology education for programs situating people with aphasia as experts. This paper describes an aphasia mentoring program that…

This study, by Fuk-chuen Ho of the Hong Kong Institute of Education and Michael Arthur-Kelly of the University of Newcastle, aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a professional development programme for in-service teachers in Hong Kong special schools. The goal of the programme was to deliver a field-based mode of training for teachers in…

The purpose of the present article was to analyze the interaction between elementary students and a professional design expert. The expert was present in the classroom, facilitating a collaborative lamp designing process together with the teacher. Using the notion of "figured worlds" (Holland et al. 1998), we explored how learning could be…

University-industry (U-I) linkage is not a new concept. Although there are models for such linkage that have been tested or used, they may remain unsuitable in certain countries and communities. With the unique situation of the Palestinians, the existing models may fall short of meeting the specific needs and targets of establishing such a…

Three kinds of knowledge usually recognised by epistemologists are identified and their relevance for curriculum design is discussed. These are: propositional knowledge, know-how and knowledge by acquaintance. The inferential nature of propositional knowledge is argued for and it is suggested that propositional knowledge in fact presupposes the…

President Barack Obama's announcement last week of a wide-ranging anti-violence plan in response to the Newtown, Connecticut, school shootings comes as many districts are adopting new and sometimes dramatic measures--including arming teachers and volunteers--intended to prevent similar tragedies in their own schools. School safety experts warn…

Researchers have examined the use of homemade PowerPoint games as an instructional technique to improve learning outcomes. However, test data have shown no significant difference in performance between high school chemistry students who created games and students who did not (Siko, Barbour, & Toker, 2011). One of the justifications for the use…

The placement of English language learners (ELLs) in mainstream classrooms raises important questions about the preparation of mainstream teachers to work with ELLs. Grounded by the conviction that well-prepared teachers can make a difference in student learning, and informed by current views on teacher learning and by teacher preparation…

The 2012-2013 school year represents a pivotal juncture for DC Public Schools. Last spring, Mayor Gray and Chancellor Kaya Henderson introduced "A Capital Commitment," their ambitious plan to dramatically accelerate student achievement in the district over the next five years by providing all of their students with a safe, academically…

The 2012-2013 school year represents a pivotal juncture for DC Public Schools. Last spring, Mayor Gray and Chancellor Kaya Henderson introduced "A Capital Commitment," their ambitious plan to dramatically accelerate student achievement in the district over the next five years by providing all of their students with a safe, academically…

The purpose of this sequential mixed-methods research was to discover the impact school culture, internal factors, and the state of flow has upon motivating a teacher to develop teaching expertise. This research was designed to find answers concerning why and how individual teachers can nurture their existing internal factors to increase their…